The 

N'ewCentury 

Bible 


Deuteronomy 


#• 


'^?. 


*     JAN    3   i.i)iU      *] 


Division       JsS  ^    \ 
Section 


THE  NEW-CENTURY  BIBLE 

•GENESIS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  H.  Bennett,  Litt.D.,  D.D. 
EXODUS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  H.  Bennett,  Litt.D.,  D.D. 
LEVITICUS  AND  NUMBERS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  A.  R.  S.  Kennedy,  M.A.,  D.D. 
•DEUTERONOMY  AND  JOSHUA,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  H.  Wheeler  Robinsom, 

M.A. 
•JUDGES  AND  RUTH,  by  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Thatcher,  M.A.,  B.D. 
*I  AND  II  SAMUEL,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  A.  R.  S.  Kennedy,  M.A.,  D.D. 
♦I  AND  II  KINGS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  Skinner,  D.D. 

*I  AND  II  CHRONICLES,  by  the  Rev.  W.  HARVEY-Jellie,  M..\..  B.D. 
EZRA,  NEHEMIAH,  and  ESTHER,  by  the  Rev,  Prof.  T.  Witton  Davies, 
B.A.,  Ph.D. 
•JOB,  by  Prof.  A.  S.  Peake,  M.A.,  B.D, 

♦PSALMS  (Vol.  I)  I  to  LXXII,  by  the  Rev.  Prol.  Davison,  M.A.,  D.D. 
•PSALMS  (Vol,  II)  LXXIII  TO  END,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  T.  WiTTON  Davies, 
B.A.,  Ph.D. 
PROVERBS,    ECCLESIASTES,    and    SONG    OF    SOLOMON,     by    the 
Rev.  Prof.  G.  CURRIE  MARTIN,  M.A.,  B.D. 
•ISAIAH,  by  the  Rev.  Principal  Whitehouse,  M.A.,  D.D. 
ISAIAH  XL-LXIII,  by  the  Rev.  Principal  Whitehouse,  M.A.,  D.D. 
JEREMIAH  and  LAMENTATIONS,  by  Prof.  A.  S.  Peake,  M.A.,  B.D. 
•EZEKIEL,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  F.  Lofthouse.  M.A. 

DANIEL,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  R.  H.  CHARLES,  D.D. 
•MINOR  PROPHETS:  HOSEA,  TOEL,  Amos,  Obadiah,  JonAH,  Mjcah,  by  the 

Rev.  R.  F.  Horton,  M.A..  D.D. 
•MINOR  PROPHETS:  Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechahiah, 
Malachi,  by  the  Rev.  Canon  Driver,  Litt.D.,  D.D. 

•i.  MATTHEW,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  F.  Slater,  M.A. 

•2.  MARK,  by  the  late  Principal  SalmOND,  D.D. 

•3.  LUKE,  by  Principal  W.  F.  Adeney,  M.A.,  D.D. 

*4.  JOHN,  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  McClymont,  D.D. 

♦5.  ACTS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  J.  Vernon  Bartlet,  M.A.,  D.D. 

*6.  ROMANS,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  A.  E.  Garvie,  M.A.,  D.D. 

*7.  I  and  II  CORINTHIANS,  by  Prof.  J.  Massie.  M.A.,  D.D. 

*8.  EPHESIANS,    COLOSSIANS,    PHILEMON,    PHILIPPIANS,    by   the 
Rev.  Prof.  G.  CuRRiE  Martin,  M.A.,  B.D. 

•o.  I  AND  II  THESSALONIANS,  GALATIANS,  by  Principal  W.  F.  Adeney, 
M.A.,  D.D. 
*io.  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES,  by  the  Rev.  R.  F.  HoRTON,  M.A.,  D.D. 
•11.  HEBREWS,  by  Prof.  A.  S.  PeAKE,  M.A.,  B.D. 
*t2.  THE  GENERAL  EPISTLES,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  H.  Bennett,  Litt.D. 

D.D. 
•13.  REVELATION,  by  the  Rev.  C.  ANDERSON  Scott,  M.A. 

[Those  marked*  are  already  pttblislied.'] 


THE  NEW-CENTURY  BIBLE 
DEUTERONOMY  and  JOSHUA 


Oxford:  horacb  hart 
printer  to  thh  university 


v^ 


General  Editor  : 
Principal  Walter  F.  Adenev,  M.A.,  D.D. 


INTRODUCTIONS 

REVISED  VERSION  WITH   NOTES 

MAP  AND   INDEX 

EDITED^Y 

H.  WHEELER  Robinson,  m.a. 

TUTOR  IN  RAWDON  COLLEGE 
LATE  SENIOR  KENNICOTT  SCHOLAR  IN  THE         ' 
UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD 


NEW  YORK:  HENRY  FROWDE 

OXFORD   UNIVERSITY   PRESS,   AMERICAN    BRANCH 

EDINBURGH  :  T.  C.  &  E.  C.  JACK 


The  Revised  Version  is  prinied  by  permission  of  the 
U?iiversities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 


CONTENTS 


DEUTERONOMY 

,;<M)UCT10N  : — 

I.   Character,  Structure,  and  Date 
li.    The  Deuteronomic  Legislation 
I     The  Deuteronomic  Religion 
IV.   Canonical  Place  and  Influence 

Notes  on  Literature    , 

Symbols  and  Abbreviations 

The  Legislative  Codes  of  the  O.  T. 

Revised  Version  with  Notes 


PAGE 

3 
i8 

33 
43 
52 
53 
54 
57 


JOSHUA 

Introduction  : — 

I.  Contents 252 

II.  Sources  and  Composition 255 

III.    The  History  of  the  Conquest    ....  259 

;.    Religious  Ideas 265 

Motes  on  Literature 268 

Revi  ED  Version  with  Notes 271 

Map      Palestine  :  showing  Seats  of  the  Twelve  Tribes 

1  the  eleventh  century  b.  c Front. 

Index 387 


THE  BOOK  OF  DEUTERONOMY 

INTRODUCTION 

I.    Character,  Structure,  and  Date. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  can  claim  a  unique  place 
in  the  literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  both  on  intrinsic 
and  extrinsic  grounds.  Intrinsically,  it  is  distinct  from 
the  narrative  and  historical,  the  legislative  and  ritual, 
the  prophetic  and  devotional  writings.  Apart  from  the 
closing  chapters,  which  are  clearly  of  the  nature  of  an 
appendix,  the  elements  of  direct  narration  are  so  slight 
as  to  be  negligible  ;  the  review  of  history  which  the  book 
contains  is  subordinated  to  a  practical  purpose.  Though 
many  laws  are  here  recorded,  they  are  for  the  most  part 
so  selected  and  presented  as  to  be  illustrations  of  a 
principle  rather  than  elements  in  a  code ;  whilst  com- 
parison with  Leviticus  will  quickly  convince  the  reader 
that  the  interest  is  moral  rather  than  ritual.  Affinity 
with  certain  of  the  prophets  is  unmistakable,  nor  is  the 
tone  of  the  book  without  many  parallels  in  the  devotional 
warmth  of  the  Psalter ;  yet  the  unity  of  Deuteronomy  is 
the  product  of  principles  rather  than  of  personalities, 
principles  emerging  in  a  national,  not  merely  an  indivi- 
dual, experience.  In  short,  we  may  most  aptly  compare 
the  sustained  and  illustrated  exhortation  of  this  book 
with  a  sermon,  if  only  the  parallel  convey  no  prejudice 
of  dullness.  It  is  a  sermon  so  reported  as  to  preserve 
the  spiritual  warmth  of  a  Bernard  preaching  the  Crusade, 
the  flaming  zeal  of  a  Savonarola  kindling  the  Florentine 
tire  of  vanities  ;  whilst  with  this  more  passionate  feeling 

B    2 


4         THE    BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

against  idolatry  there  is  a  noble  humanitarianism,  a  con- 
sideration for  the  stranger  and  the  helpless,  an  appeal 
to  deep  human  sympathies,  not  unworthy  of  a  Francis  of 
Assisi.  These  intrinsic  qualities  of  the  book  are  well 
matched  by  the  comparative  clearness  of  the  light  focussed 
on  its  first  emergence  into  history.  For  once,  at  least,  we 
are  privileged  to  stand,  if  not  by  the  very  cradle  of  a 
Scriptural  book,  yet  amid  the  circumstances  of  its  pre- 
sentation at  court.  We  know  quite  clearly  the  date  at 
which  it  has  first  to  be  reckoned  with  as  a  power  in  the 
history  and  religion  of  Israel.  As  a  historical  monument, 
it  constitutes  a  welcome  landmark  amongst  the  obscurer 
paths  of  O.T.  criticism. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  as  it  now  lies  before  us, 
consists  of  several  addresses,  professedly  delivered  by 
Moses  to  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Moab  on  the  eve 
of  their  entrance  into  Palestine  (i.  1-5,  iv.  44-49,  ix.  i, 
xxxi.  I  f.).  To  these  are  added  four  chapters  (xxxi-xxxiv) 
narrating  the  appointment  of  Joshua  in  place  of  Moses 
(xxxi.  3  f.,  14  f.),  the  writing  down  by  Moses  of  the  law  just 
given  (verses  9  f.,  24  f.),  and  the  ascent  by  Moses,  at  the  com- 
mand of  God,  of  Mount  Nebo  (Pisgah),  where  he  dies 
(xxxii.  48  f.,  xxxiv).  In  this  narrative  are  incorporated 
two  poems,  the  '  Song '  (chap,  xxxii)  and  the  '  Blessing  ' 
(chap,  xxxiii)  ascribed  to  Moses  and  to  this  particular 
occasion.  The  following  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  argu- 
ment of  the  book  itself,  as  distinct  from  its  appendix. 

Moses  recalls  the  command  to  leave  Horeb  and  the  arrange- 
ments made  for  tribal  government  (i.  6-18).  He  describes  the 
events  which  followed  arrival  at  Kadesh-Barnea — the  fear  of 
the  people  to  attack  the  Amorites,  God's  anger  and  sentence, 
the  subsequent  attempt  of  the  people  and  their  defeat  (i.  19-46). 
The  desert  wanderings  were  resumed,  until,  after  forty  years, 
Divine  permission  being  given,  Israel  returned  and  passed 
peacefully  through  the  territory  of  Edom  (ii.  1-8).  Neither 
Moab  (ii.  9-15)  nor  Ammon  (ii.  16-25)  was  attacked,  but 
Sihon    of  Heshbon   was    utterlj'  defeated,    and  the  Amorite 


INTRODUCTION  5 

territory  taken  (ii.  26-37^.  -^  similar  fate  awaited  Og  of 
Bashan  (iii.  i-ii).  The  Israelites  receiving  the  captured 
territory  (iii.  12-17)  were  required  to  continue  to  fight  on 
behalf  of  their  brethren  (iii.  18-22).  Moses  says  that  hh 
own  desire  to  enter  Palestine  has  been  refused  through 
Divine  displeasure  (iii.  23-29).  At  this  point,  the  present 
position  of  affairs  having  been  reached,  the  review  closes,  and 
there  follows  an  appeal  for  obedience  to  the  Divine  command- 
ments (^iv.  1-40).  This  is  urged  especially  on  the  ground  of  ^ 
their  impressive  deliverance  at  Horeb,  when  God's  voice  ^/^ 
was  heard,  but  His  form  was  not  seen — a  fact  meant  to  teach 
how  unwarrantable  it  is  to  use  images  in  the  worship  of  God 
(iv.  1-25).  If  this  lesson  be  not  learnt,  Israel  will  be  scattered 
among  the  nations;  yet,  even  there,  penitence  will  secure  return, 
for  God  has  dealt  in  such  particularity  with  Israel  because  He 
loves  His  chosen  people  (iv.  25-40).  The  first  address  of  Moses 
ends  at  this  point.  There  follows  a  brief  note  on  the  selection 
of  three  cities  of  refuge  beyond  Jordan  (iv.  41-43),  and  an 
introduction  to  the  second  address  of  such  a  kind  as  to  imply 
that  no  other  has  preceded  it,  the  place  and  date  being  stated 
afresh.  Moses  begins  by  reference  to  the  covenant  of  God 
with  Israel  in  Horeb,  and  cites  the  Ten  Commandments,  in 
a  somewhat  varied  form,  as  its  basis  (v.  1-21),  The  people 
then  shrank  from  hearing  the  voice  of  God,  and  Moses  was 
made  the  intermediary  of  further  revelation  (v.  22-33).  He 
sums  this  up  by  declaring  the  God  of  Israel  to  be  Yahweh 
alone,  who  is  to  be  loved  by  His  people  ;  they  are  not  to  wor- 
ship the  gods  of  surrounding  peoples,  when  they  have  taken 
possession  of  the  plenty  of  Palestine,  but  to  teach  their  children 
that  all  good,  since  the  deliverance  from  Egypt,  comes  from 
Yahweh  (vi.  1-25).  The  nations  of  Palestine,  and  the  accom- 
paniments of  their  heathen  worship,  are  to  be  utterly  destroyed  ; 
Israel  is  a  peculiar  people,  claimed  for  Himself  by  the  loving 
purpose  of  Yahweh  (vii.  i-ii).  Obedience  will  ensure  the 
Divine  blessing  :  there  is  no  need  to  fear  these  nations,  for 
Yahweh,  who  worked  for  Israel  in  Egj'pt,  will  gradually  dis- 
possess them  (vii.  12-26).  Let  Israel  think  of  the  discipline 
of  the  wilderness,  lest  Yahweh  be  forgotten  in  the  prosperity 
of  the  good  land  He  has  given,  for  disobedience  will  mean 
destruction  (chap.  viii>.     It  is  not  because  of  Israel's  righteous- 


6  THE    BOOK    OF    DEUTERONOMY 

nesa,  but  because  of  the  wickedness  of  these  nations,  that 
Yalivvch  is  dispossessing  them  (ix.  1-7).  At  this  point  the 
argument  is  broken  by  a  detailed  description  of  the  disobedience 
of  Israel  at  Horeb,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  giving  of  the 
law  (ix.  8 — X.  5,  10,  11).  A  detached  note  is  added,  in  regard 
to  Israel's  journeying  and  the  separation  of  Levi  (x.  6-9).  The 
argument  of  the  address  is  resumed  by  an  earnest  appeal  for 
response  to  the  requirements  of  Yahweh  (x.  12-22).  The 
hearers  of  Moses  have  themselves  seen  the  work  of  Yahweh  in 
the  fate  of  Pharaoh,  Dathan,  and  Abiram  ;  let  them,  therefore, 
obey  Him  amid  the  prosperity  of  Palestine  (xi.  1-12).  That 
prosperity  depends  on  the  rain  Yahweh  gives  from  heaven, 
which  He  will  withhold  from  those  who  worship  other  gods  ; 
but  Israel's  territory  shall  be  won  and  held  on  the  condition  of 
loyalty  to  Him  (xi,  13-25).  So  are  a  blessing  and  a  curse  set 
before  Israel  for  choice,  as  shall  be  proclaimed  on  Gerizim 
and  Ebal  (xi.  26-32).  With  the  twelfth  chapter,  the  speaker 
passes  to  the  direct  enunciation  of  the  statutes  and  judgements 
to  be  observed  in  Palestine,  and  to  the  primary  requirement 
that  there  shall  be  one,  and  only  one,  sanctuary  in  the  place 
which  Yahweh  shall  choose,  where  all  sacrifice  shall  be  offered  ; 
when  flesh  is  eaten  elsewhere,  the  feast  shall  be  non-sacrificial 
in  character,  the  local  sanctuaries  and  their  accompaniments 
being  destroyed  (chap.  xii).  The  sternest  measures  are  to  be 
taken  against  every  incitement  to  the  worship  of  other  gods, 
whether  from  prophet  (xiii.  1-5),  relative  (xiii.  6-1 1),  or  city 
(xiii.  12-18).  The  holiness  of  Israel  is  to  be  maintained  by 
abstinence  from  cuttings  for  the  dead  (xiv.  i,  2)  and  from 
'  unclean '  foods  (xiv.  3-21).  /The  tithe  of  the  produce  of 
field  and  herd  is  to  be  eaten  at  the  one  sanctuary  ;  if  the 
distance  is  too  great,  it  may  be  sold  locally,  and  the  money 
used  for  purchases  at  the  sanctuary ;  but  the  tithe  of  the  third 
year  is  to  be  reserved  for  the  Levite  and  the  poor  (xiv.  22-29). 
Every  seventh  year  is  to  be  marked,  in  regard  to  Hebrews, 
by  the  remission  of  debt  (xv.  i-ii),  or  of  bondage,  unless  there 
is  willingness  to  continue  service  (xv.  12-18).  The  firstborn 
of  herd  and  flock,  if  perfect,  is  to  be  eaten  at  the  sanctuary 
(xv.  19-23).  The  Israelite  shall  bring  his  offerings  to  the 
sanctuary  three  times  in  every  j'ear — viz.  at  the  feasts  of 
Passover,  Pentecost,  and  Tabernacles  (xvi.  1-17'.     No   post 


INTRODUCTION  7 

or  pillar  like  those  of  the  heathen  culls  shall  stand  by  the  altar 
of  Yahweh  (xvi.  21,  22),  and  the  sentence  on  the  idolater  shall 
be  death  (xvii.  2-7).  At  this  point,  anticipated  by  a  short 
section  on  the  appointment  of  judges,  which  seems  misplaced 
(xvi.  i8-2o\  we  pass  from  the  *  statutes '  or  religious,  to  the 
'judgements'  or  moral  ordinances.  Ditficult  cases  are  to  be 
referred  to  the  priests  of  the  sanctuary  (xvii.  8-13).  The 
future  king  shall  himself  be  an  Israelite,  and  he  is  warned 
against  the  accumulation  of  horses,  wives,  or  wealth  ;  let 
him  study  this  law  and  obey  it  faithfully'  (xvii.  14-20).  The 
dues  of  the  priests  are  named  (xviii.  1-5),  and  also  the  right  of 
country  Levites  to  minister  on  equal  terms  in  the,  sanctuary 
(xviii.  6-8).  Resort  may  not  be  had  to  magic  and  divination  ; 
for  special  guidance  the  people  shall  depend  on  the  line  of 
prophets  whom  Yahweh  will  raise  up  in  succession  to  Moses 
(xviii.  9-22).  Cities  of  refuge,  with  right  of  sanctuary  for 
unintentional  manslaughter,  will  afford  the  protection  hitherto 
given  by  local  altars  (xix.  1-13).  Removal  of  a  landmark  and 
false  witness  are  forbidden,  the  latter  under  severe  penalty 
(xix.  14-21).  Various  provisions  are  made  for  the  conduct 
of  warfare  (chap,  xx),  for  the  cleansing  of  a  district  from  the 
stain  of  bloodshed  (xxi.  1-9),  for  the  treatment  of  women 
captives  (xxi.  10-14),  and  for  domestic  problems  (xxi.  15-21). 
There  follow  a  number  of  detailed  ordinances,  dealing  with 
such  matters  as  lost  property,  sexual  relations,  admittance  of 
non-Israelites  into  the  community,  loans,  divorce,  regard  for 
the  poor,  Levirate  marriage,  and  justice  in  trade  (chaps,  xxii- 
xxv).  A  ritual  of  thanksgiving  to  accompany  the  presenta- 
tion of  a  basket  of  first-fruits  at  the  sanctuary  (xxvi.  i-ii),  and 
a  form  of  declaration  that  the  provisions  of  the  third  year  of 
tithe  have  been  observed  (xxvi.  12-15),  lead  to  a  final  exhorta- 
tion to  maintain  the  relations  now  established  between  Yahweh 
and  His  people  (xxvi.  16-19%  The  address  of  Moses  is  broken  ^ 
at  this  point  by  a  chapter  (xxvii)  which  narrates  the  command 
to  set  up  inscribed  stones  in  Palestine,  and  to  carry  out  a  ritual 
of  blessings  and  cursing  on  Gerizim  and  Ebal.  The  address  of 
Moses  continues,  without  introduction,  in  the  following  chapter, 
which  develops  the  blessings  of  obedience,  and  the  curses  of 
disobedience,  the  latter  at  much  greater  length.  The  two 
remaining   chapters    form   a  third    and    distinct    address  of 


8         THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

Moses,  which  brie^  refers  to  Egypt,  the  wilderness,  and  the 
victories  won,  and  enforces  the  importance  of  the  covenant 
now  made  between  Yahweh  and  His  people  ;  it  will  hold  for 
the  future,  however  men  may  think  to  neglect  it  with  impunity. 
Other  nations  shall  see,  in  the  desolation  of  the  land,  the  curse 
written  in  this  book  (chap.  xxix).  Yet,  when  blessing  and 
curse  have  found  their  fulfilment,  and  Israel  is  scattered  among 
the  nations,  penitent  return  to  obedience  shall  secure  the 
restoration  of  Yahweh's  favour,  and  He  will  gather  the  outcasts 
from  the  uttermost  parts  (xxx.  i-io).  A  practical  and  certain 
issue  is  thus  set  before  Israel,  the  issue  between  life  and  deatii, 
good  and  evil  (xxx.  15-20). 

Even  so  rapid  a  review  as  this  of  the  salient  points  of 
the  book  will  suggest  that  it  can  hardly  have  issued,  in 
its  present  forin,  from  the  flowing  pen  of  a  single  writer. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  appendix,  as  a  collection  of  various 
niaterials  relating  to  the  last  days  of  Moses,  the  addresses  do 
not  afford  any  natural  explanation  of  their  threefold  form. 
The  statements  introducing  them  seem  to  imply  inde- 
pendence of  origin ;  the  inter-relation  of  the  subject-matter, 
as  seen  in  obvious  repetitions,  and  in  less  obvious  differ- 
ences of  standpoint,  confirms  this  impression.  But  since 
we  are  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  approach  the  book 
from  the  vantage-ground  of  external  history,  these  points 
are  best  deferred  till  we  have  glanced  at  the  narrative  of 
the  discovery  of  the  Book  of  the  Law  in  the  Temple 
(cf.  2  Kings  xxii). 

In  the  year  621  b.  c,  being  the  eighteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Josiah,  who  was  then  twenty-six  years  of  age,  Shaphan, 
the  king's  scribe  or  chancellor,  had  occasion  to  visit  the 
Temple,  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  transfer  of  money, 
collected  for  repairs,  to  the  overseers  of  the  work.  During 
this  visit  of  Shaphan,  Hilkiah  the  chief-priest  said  to  him, 
*I  have  found  the  Book  of  the  Law  in  the  house  of  Yahweh.' 
He  gave  it  to  Shaphan,  who  read  it,  apparentl}'  on  the  spot. 
On  Shaphan's  return  to  the  king  to  hand  in  his  official  report, 
he  said,  after  the  business  was  done,  *  Hilkiah  the  priest  hath 
delivered  me  a  book.'     Shaphan  read  this  to  the  king,  who, 


INTRODUCTION  y 

having  heard  '  the  words  of  the  Book  of  the  Law,'  rent  his 
clothes.  The  king  thereupon  appointed  what  we  should  call 
a  Royal  Commission  of  five  members  to  inquire  of  Yahweh, 
not  concerning  the  authenticity  of  the  book,  which  Josiah 
shows  no  sign  of  doubting,  but  as  to  what  must  be  done  in 
view  of  previous  neglect  of  its  commands.  The  commission 
consults  Huldah  the  prophetess,  whose  '  Thus  saith  Yahweh,' 
in  its  present  form,  confirms  the  threats  of  the  book,  but  promises 
Josiah  that  he  shall  himself  be  spared  the  sight  of  their  fulfil- 
ment. It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  original  prophecy  of 
Huldah  has  been  revised  in  the  light  of  the  Exile  and  its 
attendant  calamities,  and  the  original  answer  may  have  bidden 
Josiah  proceed  to  carr_v  out  the  requirements  of  the  book  with- 
out delay.  This  he  does  by  gathering  priests,  prophets,  and 
people  ill  a  great  assembl}-^,  to  which  is  read  '  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant  which  was  found  in  the  house  of  Yahweh.'  King 
and  people  bind  themselves  to  obey  Yahweh  and  *  to  establish 
the  words  of  this  covenant  written  in  this  book.* 

The  reformation  of  religion  under  Josiah  is  based  ex- 
plicitly on  the  discovered  book,  and  we  may  infer  the 
character  of  the  book  from  the  details  of  the  reformation 
(2  Kings  xxiii.  1-24).  The  result  of  this  inference,  as 
will  be  seen  from  the  parallels  to  be  cited,  is  to  show 
that  the  fundamental  document  of  the  reformation  of  621 
13.  C.  is  embedded  in  our  present  Book  of  Deuteronomy. 

The  reformation  naturally  begins  with  the  centre  of 
Israel's  religious  life,  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  Methods 
of  worshipping  Yahweh  borrowed  from  foreign  cults  are 
ended  by  the  destruction  of  their  means  or  accompani- 
ments. This  applies  in  particular  to  the  Asherim  or  wooden 
posts  by  the  altar  (verse  6  :  cf.  Deut.  vii.  5,  xii.  3,  xvi.  21), 
and  the  cells  of  the  sacred  prostitutes  (verse  7  :  cf.  Deut. 
xxiii.  17).  But  not  only  foreign  methods  of  worshipping 
Yahweh,  but  foreign  objects  of  worship,  have  invaded  the 
Temple  and  its  precincts.  The  roof-altars  of  Ahaz,  used  in 
connexion  with  star- worship  (Jer.  xix.  13),  and  the  altars  of 
Manasseh  for  all  the  host  of  heaven  (2  Kings  xxi.  5), 


lo       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

together  with  the  horses  and  chariots  of  sun-worship  set 
up  at  the  entrance  to  the  Temple,  have  also  to  be 
destroyed  (verses  ii,  12  :  cf.  Deut.  xii.  1-4  and  iv.  19). 
Defilement  awaits  the  sanctuaries  of  rival  deities  which 
have  hitherto  existed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Temple: 
such  are  the  place  of  human  sacrifice  by  fire  to  Molech 
in  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  (verse  10  :  cf.  Deut.  xii.  31),  and 
the  high  places  erected  by  Solomon  on  the  south-east  of 
the  city  to  the  Sidonian  Ashtoreth,  the  Moabite  Kemosh, 
and  the  Ammonite  Milcoiii  (verse  13  :  cf.  (i  Kings  xi.  7, 
8)  Deut.  vi.  14).  The  Mazzeboth  or  stone  pillars,  and  the 
Asherim  or  wooden  posts,  which  stood  on  these  high 
places,  were  of  course  destroyed  (verse  14  :  cf.  Deut.  vii.  5, 
xii.  3).  The  high  places  throughout  all  Judah,  including 
all  local  cults,  whether  in  the  name  of  Yahw^eh  or  of  other 
gods  (verses  5,  8:  cf.  Deut. xii.  1-28),  were  similarly  treated, 
and  the  reformation  seems  to  have  extended  beyond  the 
limits  of  Josiah's  kingdom  to  Bethel,  if  not,  as  a  later  writer 
claims,  to  Samaria  (verses  15  and  16-20).  By  this  drastic 
procedure,  one  sanctuary  alone  remained,  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem.  Here  the  reformation  was  consummated  by 
the  celebration  of  the  Feast  of  Passover,  according  to  the 
new  requirement  of  the  Law-book,  not,  as  hitherto,  as  a 
feast  locally  celebrated  throughout  the  country  (verses  21- 
23  :  cf.  Deut.  xvi.  1-8,  especially  verse  5 ).  Finally,  various 
methods  of  magic  and  divination  are  suppressed  (verse  24  : 
cf.  Deut.  xviii.  9-14).  Any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
consult  the  parallel  passages  will  probably  be  convinced  that 
he  has  still  before  him,  within  the  limits  of  Deuteronomy,  the 
written  document  that  prompted  the  reformation  of  Josiah. 
This  is  especially  clear  in  the  fact  that  the  principle  of 
one  central  sanctuary,  which  stood  out  in  our  outline  of 
the  book,  is  fundamental  in  the  actual  reformation, 
though  it  reverses  the  practice  of  earlier  Hebrew  religion, 
which  permitted  many  altars  throughout  the  land  (Exod. 
XX.  24).  In  one  point  only  is  there  want  of  obvious  agree- 
ment between  the  precepts  of  our  book  and  the  practice 


INTRODUCTION  1 1 

of  the  reformation,  viz.  in  tlie  fact  that  whilst  Deuteronomy 
gives  the  country  Levites  the  right  to  sacrifice  at  Jeru- 
salem (xviii.  7)  this  is  withheld  from  them  according  to 
the  narrative  of  2  Kings  (xxiii.  9).  But  the  reformers  are 
simply  exceeding  Deuteronomy  in  the  rigorous  applica- 
tion of  its  polemic  against  the  high  places  \ 

Granting,  then,  the  identity  of  some  part  of  our  present 
Book  of  Deuteronomy  with  the  Book  of  the  Law  found  in 
the  Temple,  the  further  question  is  naturally  suggested, 
which  part :  Some  data  towards  the  answer  are  given  us 
by  the  comparison  already  made,  which  shows  that  the 
Deuteronomic  parallels  to  the  narrative  are  practically  all 
drawn  from  that  central  portion  of  Deuteronomy  which 
constitutes  the  second  address  of  Moses  (chaps,  v-xxvi), 
and  more  especially  from  its  distinctly  legislative  portion 
(chaps,  xii-xxvi).  Further  indications  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
Book  of  the  Law  are  as  follows,  (i)  It  was  so  brief 
that  Shaphan  w^as  able  to  read  it  through  for  himself, 
apparently  before  leaving  the  Temple,  and  then  to  read 
it  again  to  the  king  on  his  return.  (2)  Its  authenticity 
was  accepted  by  Josiah  without  any  question  ;  the  book 
must  therefore  have  contained  clear  information  as  to  its 
authoritative  origin,  and  cannot  have  been  a  bare  collec- 
tion of  anonymous  laws.  If,  for  brevity's  sake,  we  might 
prefer  to  take  the  legislative  portion  of  the  second  address 
of  Moses  (chaps,  xii-xxvi)  as  the  Book  of  the  Law,  yet  we 
require  some  such  introduction  as  the  earlier  portion  of  that 
address  (chaps,  v-xi)  supplies,  in  order  to  explain  the  un- 
hesitating acceptance  of  it  by  Josiah.  (3)  The  impression 
made  on  him  was  so  strong  that  he  rent  his  clothes  ;  we 
therefore  seem  to  require  some  pointed  conclusion  to  the 
Book  of  the  Law,  emphasizing  the  consequences  of 
neglecting  it.  Such  a  conclusion  would  actually  be 
supplied  by  the  blessings  and  curses  of  chap,  xxviii, 
which  there  is  no  reason  to  separate  from  the  rest  of  the 

1  Stade,  Ceschichie  des  Volkes  Israel,  i.  656. 


12        THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

second  address.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  which  we 
provisionally  reach  is  that  the  second  address  of  Moses 
(chaps,  v-xxvi,  xxviii)  contains  the  original  Book  of  the 
Law,  the  only  valid  objection  being  that  it  seems  too  long; 
but  its  present  length  is  probably  due  to  subsequent 
amplification.  Earlier  criticism  (e.  g.  that  of  Wellhausen, 
Die  Composition  des  Hexateuchs,^.  191)  regarded  the  legis- 
lative portion  of  the  address  as  original,  its  introductory 
chapters  of  exhortation  being  added  subsequent  to  the 
reformation  ;  but,  to  say  nothing  of  the  necessity  for  sonic 
introduction  to  the  original  book  (mentioned  above),  there 
does  not  seem  any  adequate  ground,  either  in  language  or 
subject-matter,  for  drawing  this  line  of  division  (for  the 
linguistic  proof, cf.  Driver,  Deuteronomy,  pp.  Ixvi,  Ixxviiif.). 
More  recent  criticism  has  attempted  the  separation  of 
different  strata  running  through  the  whole  address ; 
Steuernagel,  for  example,  has  made  use  of  the  considerable 
variation  in  the  use  of  singular  and  plural  suffixes,  and  of 
obvious  displacements  and  doublets,  to  effect  such  an 
analysis  {Deuterofiomium  iind  Josua^  pp.  ii,  iii).  It  can 
hardly  be  said  that  any  such  analysis  has  found  general 
acceptance,  and  discussion  of  the  details  lies  outside 
the  scope  of  our  present  survey ;  but  certain  sections, 
notably  the  long  digression  concerning  Horeb  (ix.  8— x. 
11)  and  the  Levitical  section  relating  to  clean  and 
unclean  animals  (xiv.  3-20),  are  probably  later  additions. 
These  elements,  together  with  the  remaining  non- 
legislative  chapters  of  our  Deuteronomy,  are  due  to 
successive  editions  of  the  original  work'.  That  there 
have  been  such  is  clearly  shown  by  the  parallel  and 
independent  superscriptions  to  the  first  and  second  ad- 
dresses (i.  1-5  ;  iv.  44-49),  and  this  indication  is  confirmed 

*  *  Apart  from  the  elements  of  the  present  Deuteronomy,  be- 
longing to  JE,  P,  and  the  connected  redaction,  the  book,  as  it  lies 
before  us,  is  a  precipitate  of  the  spiritual  movements  called  into 
being  by  the  Law-book  and  the  Reformation  of  Josiah.  It  arose 
through  the  efforts  to  make  Josiah 's  book  adequate  for  all  require- 
ments.'    (Stade,  Bib,  Theologk  des  Alien  Testaments,  p.  264.) 


INTRODUCTION  13 

by  the  independence  of  the  addresses  themselves.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Horeb  digression,  already  referred  to 
(ix.  8  f.),  belongs  to  the  historical  review  of  the  first  three 
chapters,  which  it  may  have  preceded.  These  chapters 
depend  largely  on  the  JE  narrative  ;  they  are  assigned  to 
the  interval  between  the  Deuteronomic  reform  and  the 
Exile,  say  about  600  B.  C,  by  the  two  most  recent  com- 
mentators (Steuernagel  and  Bertholet).  Against  the 
supposition  that  they  are  by  the  author  of  the  second 
address,  'the  diversity  of  historical  representation  is 
decisive  *  (Moore,  EB.  1087 ;  he  instances  the  different 
relations  represented  as  existing  with  the  Moabites 
(of.  ii.  29  and  xxiii.  4),  and  the  fact  that  the  first  address 
supposes  the  men  of  the  desert  to  have  all  perished  save 
two  (i.  35,  ii.  14  f.),  whilst  the  second  bases  its  appeal  on 
their  continuance— '  Your  eyes  have  seen  all  the  great 
work  of  Yahweh  which  He  did'  (xi.  7 :  cf.  v.  2) ).  A  portion 
of  this  first  address  (iv.  1-40)  is  not,  however,  historical 
review,  but  exhortation,  and  part  of  it,  at  least,  seems  to 
presuppose  the  Exile  (v.  25-31  :  cf.  Moore,  /.  r.)  as  does 
the  third  address  (xxix,  xxx).  The  last  four  chapters  of 
Deuteronomy,  forming  the  Appendix  on  the  closing  events 
of  the  life  of  Moses,  whilst  incorporating  some  of  the 
oldest  elements  in  the  book  (e.  g.  the  '  Blessing,'  xxxiii), 
were  probably  added  last  of  all.  We  may,  therefore, 
roughly  distinguish  four  stages  in  the  composition  of  our  XJ 
present  Deuteronomy,  viz  : — 

(i)  The  Book  of  the  Law  (v—ix.  7;  x.  12  f.— xi,  xii-xxvi, 
xxviii)  before  621  B.C.     (D.) 

(2)  Historical    Introduction    (i-iii ;    ix.    8— x.    11),   c. 

600  B.C.     (D2.) 

(3)  Exilic    Introduction    and    Conclusion    (iv.    1-40, 

xxixf.)     (D^) 

(4)  Appendix  and  Redactional  additions  and  altera- 

tions ^     R(J,E,  P). 

^  The  above  symbols,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  various 


14        THE    BOOK   OF    DEUTERONOMY 

Of  greater  importance  than  the  precise  dating  of  these 
later  additions  is  the  question  of  the  period  at  which  the 
original  Book  of  the  Law  was  written.  We  have  seen 
ample  reason  for  holding  that  the  second  address  of  Moses 
was  substantially  in  existence  in  621  B.  C.  ;  we  have  now 
to  ask  whether  its  composition  is  to  be  assigned  to  an 
earlier  period,  and  if  so,  within  what  limits.  It  is  to  be 
noticed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  address,  whilst  written 
throughout  on  the  assumption  that  Moses  is  the  speaker, 
is  definitely  ascribed  to  Moses  as  writer  also  in  the  nar- 
rative conclusion  to  the  book  (xxxi.  gf.,  24 f.).  It  is  not 
possible  here  to  repeat  the  well-known  arguments  for  the 
rejection  of  this  tradition,  which  are  stated  at  length  in 
Driver's  Deutero7iomy  (pp.  xxxiv-xliv)  \  The  most  con- 
vincing proof  that  the  book  belongs  to  an  age  much  later 
than  the  Mosaic  lies  in  the  cumulative  force  of  the 
reconstruction  of  the  history  of  Israel's  religion,  afforded 
by  many  independent  data.  Marti,  in  his  recent  useful  out- 
line of  the  results  attained  {Die  Religion  des  Alien  Testa- 
inents  nnter  den  Religionen  des  vorderen  Orients^  1906; 
Eng.  Trans,  by  Bienemann,  1907),  divides  the  religious 
development  into  four  periods  : — (i)  The  Nomadic  period, 
prior  to  settlement  in  Palestine,  whose  characteristic  is  the 
belief  in  demons  and  spirits,  found  amongst  ancient  and 
modern  Semites  in  this  stage  of  culture,  and  surviving 
amongst  the  Hebrews  to  a  much  later  age.  (2)  The 
Agricultural  period,  following  the  settlement  in  Palestine 
of  a  group  of  people  united  by  the  worship  of  Yahweh,  who 
had  delivered  their  central  stock  from  the  slavery  of  Egypt. 

strata  of  Deuteronomic  writers  (D,  D^,  D^),  are  self-explanatory. 
The  symbols  R,  J,  E,  and  P  are  those  used  throughout  the 
Pentateuch,  and  in  Joshua,  and  are  explained  on  p.  53,  and  in 
The  Century  Bible,  Genesis,  p.  52.  Further  details  of  analysis  are 
indicated  in  the  notes,  and  by  these  letters  attached  to  the  text. 
*  They  are  not  weakened  in  any  material  point  by  the 
criticisms  of  G.  Robinson  in  The  Expositor  (vols,  viii  and  ix, 
1898,  1899:  'The  Genesis  of  Deuteronomy')  or  of  Orr  in 
The  Problem  of  the  Old  Testament  '^1905'). 


INTRODUCTION  15 

Yahweh  becomes  the  god  of  the  land  whose  local  deities 
He  has  dispossessed,  though  His  worship  borrows  many 
elements,  particularly  in  regard  to  sacrifice,  from  the 
religion  of  Palestine.  But  He  is  distinct  from  these  gods 
by  His  growing  relation  with  the  social  and  moral  life  of 
His  people.  (3)  This  relation  is  developed  in  the"  next 
period  by  the  prophets,  particularly  those  of  the  eighth 
century  before  Christ,  who  develop  the  principle  of  a 
practical  monotheism,  and  emphasize  the  moral  require- 
ments of  Yahweh  as  against  the  sacrificial.  The  indi- 
vidualism of  Jeremiah  and  the  universalism  of  Deutero- 
Isaiah  are  consequences  of  this  fundamental  emphasis  on 
the  ethical  nature  of  God  and  man.  (4)  Finally,  we  have 
the  religion  of  the  Laiv,  whose  characteristic  is  dependence 
on  a  written  revelation  of  the  Divine  requirements.  If 
such  an  outline  of  the  history  of  religion  in  Israel  be 
accepted— and  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  all  we 
know  of  Semitic  religion  in  general  and  Hebrew  in 
particular  supports  its  general  truth— then  there  can  be 
little  doubt  as  to  what  limits  we  should  draw  for  the  date 
of  composition  of  the  central  part  of  Deuteronomy.  Its 
fundamental  theological  doctrine,  rightly  enshrined  by 
Judaism  in  its  daily  ritual,  is  the  '  Hear,  O  Israel : 
Yahweh  is  our  God,  Yahweh  alone '  ^  ;  its  fundamental 
religious  precept  is  stated  in  the  continuing  words,  'and 
thou  shalt  love  Yahweh  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might '  (vi.  4,  5).  Its 
further  insistence  on  a  single  sanctuary  is  a  logical  deduc- 
tion from  the  practical  monotheism  for  an  age  not  yet  able 
to  separate  the  visible  from  the  invisible.  The  single  God, 
the  single  love  for  Him,  and  the  single  sanctuary  for  His 
worship  can  be  explained  only  as  ideas  produced  by  the 
moving  events  and  personalities  of  the  eighth  century.   We 

^  See  note  on  vi.  4  for  the  justification  of  this  rendering,  and 
for  the  sense  in  which  it  proclaims  monotheism  in  practice,  bj' 
its  emphasis  on  the  unique  relation  of  Yahweh  and  Israel. 


i6       THE   BOOK   OF    DEUTERONOMY 

shall  have  reason  to  see  that  Deuteronomy  stands  as  the 
incorporation  of  the  teaching  of  the  great  prophets,  and 
as  the  transition  to  the  later  religion  of  the  written  law. 
The  dominant  precept  of  its  legislation,  that  of  the  central 
sanctuary,  finds  part  of  its  explanation  also  in  the  deliver- 
ance of  Jerusalem  and  its  sanctuary  from  Sennacherib  in 
701,  whilst  more  ancient  sanctuaries  were  defiled  by  the 
invader  (Moore,  /.  c.  1084).  Hezekiah  himself  (720-693)  is 
said  to  have  conducted  a  reformation  on  lines  similar  to  that 
of  Josiah  (2  Kings  xviii.  4,  22),  but  his  work  was  undone 
by  his  son  Manasseh  (692-639;  xxi.  3f.).  Within  the 
seventh  century,  therefore,  i.  e.  either  in  the  long  reign 
of  Manasseh  or  in  the  earlier  part  of  that  of  Josiah  (637- 
608),  the  central  part  of  our  Deuteronomy  must  have  been 
written.  The  later  date  is  perhaps  more  probable. 
Against  either  date  it  has  been  frequently  urged  that  the 
seventh-century  writer  who  composed  the  address  he  has 
ascribed  to  Moses  could  not  well  be  '  inspired '  if  his 
method  was  intended  to  deceive.  But  can  he  be  accused 
of  such  an  intention  ?  We  have  not  only  to  remember  the 
well-known  freedom  by  which  ancient  writers  place  their 
own  interpretation  of  the  events  of  a  period  in  the  mouth 
of  the  actors  in  them^ — a  freedom  perfectly  legitimate 
before  the  emergence  of  the  finer  historical  sense  of  our 
own  days — but  also  the  fact  that  this  writer  is  under  the 
influence  of  those  great  prophets  who  did  not  hesitate  to 
speak  in  the  name  of  Yahweh.  If  a  man  may  claim  to 
speak  in  the  spirit  of  God,  when  conscience  sends  him 
forward  like  Amos,  or  deep  personal  sorrow  purges  his 
vision  like  Hosea's,  or  faith  lifts  his  eyes  above  armies 
like  Isaiah's,  why  may  he  not  speak  with  equal  sincerity  in 
the  spirit  of  some  great  fellow  man  whose  mantle  of 
prophecy  is  his  inheritance  ^  ?  The  naive  ascription  of 
authorship,  honest  then,  would  be  dishonest  now;   but, 

^  Cf.  the  speeches  of  Thucydides,  and  the  dialogues  of  Plato. 
"^  For  the  psychological  possibility  of  this,  see  2  Kings  ii.  9. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

given  the  ancient  standpoint,  all  that  can  be  demanded  of  the 
author  is  that  he  should,  if  writing  in  the  name  of  Moses, 
speak  as  Moses  would  have  spoken  were  he  still  alive'. 
Indeed,  we  may  go  further  and  say  that  this  is  the  only 
way  to  interpret  the  great  men  of  the  past  truthfully  ;  and 
when  Israel  ceased  to  do  this,  she  exchanged  her  prophetic 
inspiration  for  the  religion  of  the  scribe.  Truth,  as  Mazzini 
finely  puts  it,  lies  at  the  intersection  of  tradition  and  con- 
science. The  conscience  of  a  seventh-century  writer  inter- 
secting the  tradition  of  a  great  law-giver  has  given  us  the 
Book  of  the  Law  found  in  the  Temple.  The  writer  has  lent 
his  own  experience  to  Moses,  so  that  he,  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh.  He  has  ascribed  to  him  a  foresight  of  many 
centuries,  just  as  Jewish  exegesis  does  in  its  comments  on 
the  Pisgah  vision.  Rashi  tells  us  that  when  Moses  looked 
out  over  the  Promised  Land  he  saw,  not  only  its  several 
parts,  but  the  enacted  history  of  each.  The  whole 
panorama  of  Israel's  moving  history  till  the  last  day  was 
unrolled  before  his  undimmed  eye.  In  the  same  spirit, 
and  with  use  of  the  same  dramatic  occasion,  the  writer  of 
the  address  has  made  Moses  legislate  for  a  distant 
century,  so  fulfilling  the  words  of  the  book  itself—'  Yahweh 
thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from  the  midst 
of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me  ;  unto  him  ye  shall 
hearken'  (xviii.  15).  To  that  prophetic  message  Josiah 
did  hearken,  rending  his  raiment,  whilst  to  the  contem- 
porary message  of  Jeremiah  his  son  Jehoiakim  refused  to 
hearken,  rending  not  his  raiment  but  the  prophet's  roll 
(Jer.  xxxvi.  23).  There  is  no  more  reason  to  doubt  the 
sincerity  of  the  Deuteronomist  than  of  Jeremiah.  Each 
was  convinced  of  the  genuineness  of  his  message,  whether 
spoken  as  coming  direct  from  God  or  mediated  through  a 
historic  tradition. 


^  For  confirmation  of  this  in  (later)  Jewish  theories  of  reve- 
lation, see  Taylor's  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers,  Excursus  I. 


THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 


II.    The  Deuteronomic  Legislation. 

Maine,  in  his  classical  work  on  'Ancient  Law,'  with 
his  eye  turned  to  the  Indo-European  family  of  nations, 
names  three  stages  of  development  prior  to  the  emergence 
of  a  written  code.  The  earliest  is  that  of  'separate, 
isolated  judgements,'  spoken  by  a  king  or  judge,  and 
assumed  to  be  the  result  of  direct  inspiration.  A  second 
stage  is  reached  when  the  awards  in  a  succession  of 
similar  cases  become  *  the  germ  or  rudiment  of  a  custom ' 
(p.  5).  The  third  stage  is  reached  when  the  king's 
power  passes  to  an  aristocracy  who  claim  'to  monopolize 
the  knoiuledge  of  the  laws,  to  have  the  exclusive  posses- 
sion of  the  principles  by  which  quarrels  are  decided' 
(p.  12).  Such  an  aristocracy  may  be  religious  in  the  East, 
civil  or  political  in  the  West ;  but  in  any  case,  the  tradition 
of  Customary  Law  is  in  their  keeping.  Finally,  we  reach 
the  stage  in  which,  through  the  invention  of  writing, 
'  Inscribed  tablets  were  seen  to  be  a  better  depository  of 
law,  and  a  better  security  for  its  accurate  preservation, 
than  the  memory  of  a  number  of  persons  however 
strengthened  by  habitual  exercise  '  (p.  15).  Maine  gene- 
ralized without  reference  to  the  development  of  Semitic  law, 
but  in  this  field  also  his  analysis  holds  good.  Behind  such 
a  written  code  as  that  of  Deuteronomy  we  see  a  religious 
oligarchy,  the  priests  of  Israel,  on  whom  has  devolved 
the  tradition  of  customary  law.  Behind  that  oligarchy, 
again,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  Moses,  as  an  individual  law- 
giver, sitting  to  judge  the  people  who  throng  him  from 
morn  till  even  :  '  The  people  come  unto  me  to  inquire  of 
God  :  when  they  have  a  matter,  they  come  unto  me ;  and 
I  judge  between  a  man  and  his  neighbour,  and  I  make 
them  know  the  statutes  of  God,  and  His  laws'  (Exod. 
xviii.  15,  16).  We  may  fill  up  this  outline  with  Doughty's 
details  of  justice  in  the  desert,  as  it  is  administered  among 
the  Bedouins  to-day.    The  tribesmen  gather  in  the  morn- 


INTRODUCTION  '        19 

ing  at  the  tent  of  their  sheikh,  where  common  affairs  are 
discussed,  such  as  movements  of  enemies,  and  facilities 
of  pasture  and  water. 

This  is  the  council  of  the  elders  and  the  public  tribunal : 
hither  the  tribesmen  bring  their  causes  at  all  times,  and  it  is 
pleaded  by  the  maintainers  of  both  sides  with  busy  clamour  ; 
and  everyone  may  say  his  word  that  will.  The  sheykh  mean- 
while takes  counsel  with  the  sheukh,  elder  men  and  more  con- 
siderable persons ;  and  judgement  is  given  commonly  without 
partiality,  and  always  without  bribes.  This  sentence  is  final. 
The  loser  is  mulcted  in  heads  of  small  cattle  or  camels,  which 
he  must  pay  anon,  or  go  into  exile,  before  the  great  sheykh 
send  executors  to  distrain  any  beasts  of  his,  to  the  estimation 
of  the  debt.  The  poor  Beduins  are  very  unwilling  payers,  and 
often  think  themselves  unable  at  present :  thus,  in  every  tribe, 
some  households  may  be  seen  of  other  tribes'  exiles.  .  .  .  Seldom 
the  judge  and  elders  err,  in  these  small  societies  of  kindred, 
where  the  life  of  every  tribesman  lies  open  from  his  infancy, 
and  his  state  is  to  all  men  well  known.  Even  their  suits  are 
expedite,  as  all  the  other  works  of  the  Arabs.  Seldom  is  a 
matter  not  heard  and  resolved  in  one  sitting.  Where  the 
accusation  is  grave,  and  some  are  found  absent  that  should 
be  witnesses,  their  cause  is  held  over  to  another  hearing.  ...  In 
the  desert  there  is  no  human  forfeit,  there  is  nothing  even  in 
homicide,  if  the  next  to  the  blood  withhold  not  their  assent, 
which  may  not  be  composed,  the  guilty  paying  the  amends 
(rated  in  heads  of  cattle).     (Arabia  Deserfa,  i.  249.) 

Such  is  the  picture  of  primitive  Semitic  legislation 
preserved  by  the  changeless  desert;  and  it  is  doubtless 
substantially  as  true  of  the  Israelites  of  the  time  of 
Moses  as  of  the  Bedouins  of  to-day.  We  need  to  keep 
it  constantly  before  us  in  the  study  of  Hebrew  law, 
because  the  origin  explains  many  things  in  the  result. 
The  earlier  laws,  at  least,  spring  from  the  life  of  the 
people,  and  bear  the  evident  impress  of  Hebrew  psycho- 
logy and  primitive  culture.  Peculiarities  in  their  pre- 
bcntation  may  seem  ine.xplicable  to  us,  till  we  remember 

c  2 


20        THE   BOOK    OF   DEUTERONOMY 

that  they  may  be  adjudications  on  actual  cases,  preserved 
as  types  and  precedents. 

We  are,  fortunately,  able  to  study  the  results  of  a  long 
development  of  Semitic  legislation  in  the  Code  of  Laws 
promulgated  by  the  Babylonian  king  Hammurabi  \  This 
king,  who  reigned  in  the  twenty-third  century  before 
Christ,  appears  in  the  Bible  under  the  name  Amraphel 
(Gen.  xiv.  9).  The  large  block  of  stone  on  which  his  laws 
are  inscribed  was  carried  from  Sippara  in  Babylonia  to 
Susa  in  Elam,  where  it  was  discovered  in  1902.  On  one 
side  of  it  is  a  picture  of  Hammurabi  receiving  his  laws 
from  the  seated  sun-god  Shamash.  There  are  forty-four 
columns  legible,  and  five  which  have  been  erased,  and  the 
laws  number  282.  The  practical  object  of  the  publication 
is  declared  in  the  epilogue  to  be  that  'the  oppressed, 
who  has  a  controversy,  shall  stand  before  my  image  as 
king  of  righteousness,  read  the  inscription,  perceive  the 
precious  words:  the  inscription  shall  show  him  his 
business,  he  shall  find  his  right'  (Winckler's  trans.,  p. 39). 
This  epilogue  contains  an  invocation  of  blessing  on 
the  obedient,  and  a  number  of  curses  on  the  disobedient ;  in 
this  greater  amplitude  of  malediction  resembling  that  of  the 
Deuteronomic  Law-book  (xxviii).  In  the  prologue  Ham- 
murabi dwells  on  his  Divine  appointment ;  but  the  body  of 
laws  itself  is  a  code  pure  and  simple,  without  any  of  that 
admixture  of  appeal  and  warning  which  characterizes  the 
Book  of  Deuteronomy  and  gives  it  its  moral  and  religious 
value.  The  laws  of  Hammurabi  confirm  Maine's  dictum 
that  *  the  more  archaic  the  code,  the  fuller  and  the  minuter 
is  its  penal  legislation '  {op.  cit.,  p.  368).  They  are  of  the 
greatest  importance  for  the  interpretation  of  Hebrew  law, 
with  which  they  are  closely  related,  if  not  as  direct 
source,  yet  certainly  as  developed  from  a  common  origin 
and  amongst  a  related  people.     Their  principal  topics  are 

*  For  fuller  information,  see  the  article  in  Hastings's  Diction- 
ary of  the  Bible,  vol.  v,  by  Johns,  whose  translation  is  here 
followed. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

the  rights  and  duties  of  kings'  servants,  the  cultivation  of 
land,  the  transactions  of  commerce,  family  relationships, 
inheritance  and  adoption,  the  control  of  slaves,  the  hiring 
of  servants,  and  a  long  list  of  penalties  in  regard  to  con- 
duct towards  parents,  personal  injuries,  surgical  and 
veterinary  blundering,  the  branding  of  slaves,  imper- 
fectly-constructed houses  and  boats.  Amongst  these 
penalties  we  find  mutilations  of  the  tongue,  eye,  ear, 
breasts,  limbs,  and  teeth.  (In  Deuteronomy,  apart  from 
the  jus  taliojiis  or  law  of  like  for  like,  there  is  only  one 
case  (xxv.  12)  in  which  mutilation,  that  of  the  hand,  is 
commanded.)  It  must  not  be  thought  that  these  are 
merely  arbitrary  cruelties ;  they  rest  on  a  different 
psychology  from  ours,  one  which  regards  the  different 
members  of  the  body  as  possessing  a  quasi-consciousness, 
and  as  subject  to  ethical  judgement*;  so  that,  as  far  as 
possible,  it  is  the  guilty  member  that  is  made  to  suffer. 
For  example,  '  If  the  doctor  has  treated  a  gentleman  for 
a  severe  wound  with  a  lancet  of  bronze,  and  has  caused 
the  gentleman  to  die,  or  has  removed  a  cataract  of  the 
eye  for  a  gentleman  with  the  bronze  lancet  and  has 
caused  the  loss  of  the  gentleman's  eye,  one  shall  cut  off 
his  hands'  (§  218).  Or  again,  'If  a  son  of  a  palace 
warder,  or  of  a  vowed  woman,  to  the  father  that  brought 
him  up,  and  the  mother  that  brought  him  up,  has  said, 
"  Thou  art  not  my  father,  thou  art  not  my  mother,"  one 
shall  cut  out  his  tongue'  (§  192).  Another  principle  that 
sharply  divides  primitive  thought  from  our  own  is  that  of 
corporate  responsibility,  the  principle  that  regards  the 
family,  not  the  individual,  as  the  legislative  unit.  Two 
striking  examples  of  this  are  found  in  the  Code  of 
Hammurabi.  If  a  man  has  caused  a  woman's  death  in 
a  certain  way,  his  own  daughter  is  killed  (§   210).     If 

'  This  principle,  differently  applied,  explains  the  piercing 
of  the  slave's  ear  (Deut.  xv.  17),  the  ear  being  the  organ  of 
obedience. 


2  2       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

a  builder  has  built  a  house  so  badly  that  it  falls  and 
causes  the  death  of  the  owner's  son,  the  builder's  son  is  to 
be  killed  (§  230).  The  principle  is  familiar  to  us  from  its 
recognition  in  Israel,  as  in  the  destruction  of  the  family  of 
Achan  (Joshua  vii.  24,  25),  and  it  underlies  the  Second 
Commandment,  which  represents  God  as  visiting  the  sins 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  (Deut.  v.  9  ;  Exod.  xx.  5).  But  the  Deutero- 
nomic  Code  expressly  lifts  its  voice  against  this  principle : 
'  The  fathers  shall  not  be  put  to  death  for  the  children, 
neither  shall  the  children  be  put  to  death  for  the  fathers  : 
every  man  shall  be  put  to  death  for  his  own  sin'  (xxiv. 
16).  Jeremiah,  the  contemporary  of  the  Deuteronomic 
reformers,  and  perhaps  one  of  them,  echoes  the  same 
protest,  when  he  says :  '  In  those  days  they  shall  say  no 
more.  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the 
children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge.  But  every  one  shall  die 
for  his  own  iniquity :  every  man  that  eateth  the  sour 
grapes,  his  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge '  (Jer.  xxxi.  29,  30). 
Another  of  many  interesting  parallels  between  the  two 
codes  is  in  regard  to  the  provision  known  as  the  'Year  of 
Release.'  Deuteronomy  provides  that  'If  thy  brother, 
an  Hebrew  man,  or  an  Hebrew  woman,  be  sold  unto  thee, 
and  serve  thee  six  years ;  then  in  the  seventh  year  thou 
shalt  let  him  go  free  from  thee'  (xv.  12).  The  limit  for 
such  practical  slavery  for  debt  is  more  closely  drawn  by 
Hammurabi :  '  If  a  debt  has  seized  a  man,  and  he  has 
given  his  wife,  his  son,  or  his  daughter  for  the  money, 
or  has  handed  them  over  to  work  off  the  debt,  for  three  years 
they  shall  work  in  the  house  of  their  buyer  or  exploiter, 
in  the  fourth  year  he  shall  set  them  at  liberty'  (§  117). 
But,  in  general,  the  Deuteronomic  law  expresses  that 
amelioration  of  treatment  and  condition  which  we  should 
expect  from  its  much  later  date  than  the  Laws  of 
Hammurabi.  This  is  also  true  of  the  relation  of  the 
Deuteronomic  laws  to  the  earlier  Hebrew  legislation, 
contained  in  the  Book  of  the  Covenant  (Exod.  xx.  22    - 


INTRODUCTION  23 

xxiii.  19),  the  Decalogue  (Exod.  xx.  1-17),  and  what  is 
known  as  the  earlier  Decalogue  (viz.  the  laws  contained  in 
Exod.  xxxiv.  10-26).  For  a  tabulated  comparison  of  the 
Deuteronomic  Code  with  the  earlier,  and  the  later  legis- 
lation, reference  may  be  made  to  Driver's  Deuteronomy 
(Introd.,  pp.  iii-xiv)  ;  his  conclusions  are :— *  The  dififerent 
relation  in  which  Deuteronomy  thus  stands  to  the  three 
codes  of  JE,  H,  and  P  may  be  described  generally  as 
follows:  it  is  an  expajiswn  of  the  laws  in  JE  (Exod.  xx. 
22 — xxiii.  33,  xxxiv.  10-26,  xiii.  3-16) ;  it  is,  in  several 
features,  parallel  to  the  Law  of  Holiness;  it  contains 
allusions  to  laws— not  indeed  always  the  same  as,  but- 
similar  to  the  ceremonial  institutions  and  observances 
codified  in  the  rest  of  P '  {op.  a'l.,  p.  xiv).  It  will  be  seen 
that  this  conclusion,  based  solely  on  internal  evidence, 
confirms  the  conclusion  as  to  the  date  of  the  Deuteronomic 
Code  already  reached  on  other  grounds.  The  only  point 
in  which  it  is  perhaps  open  to  criticism  is  the  description 
of  Deut.  xii-xxvi  as  an  enlarged  edition  of  the  Book  of 
the  Covenant,  which  must  at  least  be  taken  in  a  broad 
sense  (cf.  Moore,  E.B.^  c.  1083:  4he  evidence  of 
literary  dependence  is  much  less  abundant  and  convincing 
than  it  must  be  if  Deuteronomy  were  merely  a  revised 
and  enlarged  Book  of  the  Covenant '). 

The  Deuteronomic  Code,  containing  upwards  of  eighty 
laws,  falls  into  three  principal  sections: — (i)  The  central 
sanctuary,  with  its  related  ordinances  (xii.  I — xvi.  17, 
with  xvi.  21— xvii.  7) ;  (2)  Authorities— viz.  Judges,  King, 
Priests,  Prophets  (xvii.  8— xviii.  22,  with  xvi.  18-20)  ; 
(3)  Miscellaneous  Laws,  many  of  which,  however,  might 
be  entitled  Laws  of  Humanity  (Steuernagel,  op. «/.,  p.  74) 
(chaps,  xix-xxv).  But  it  will  be  most  convenient  to 
group  the  contents  of  the  code,  for  the  purpose  of  more 
closely  examining  its  contents,  under  five  heads :— viz. 
(i)  Primitive  Culture  and  Anthropology  ;  (2)  The  Law  of 
Persons;  (3)  The  Law  of  Property;  (4)  Justice  and 
Humanity;  (5)  The  Law  of  Worship;  of  which  the  last 


24       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

has  been  described  in  the  previous  section  (The  Reforma- 
tion of  Josiah). 

I.  Primitive  Culture  and  Anthropology.  There  are 
four  groups  of  ideas  which  receive  illustration  in  Deutero- 
nomy, of  which  we  may  first  take  those  which  attach  to — 

I.  Blood.  Scarcely  any  subject  is  more  fruitful  in  its 
revelation  of  primitive  habits  of  thought  than  this.  A  red 
river  of  blood  runs  through  the  whole  landscape  of  early 
thought  and  custom.  The  blood  is  the  life— to  us,  physio- 
logically, its  vehicle,  to  the  primitive  man,  psychically, 
either  its  vehicle  or  the  life  itself.  We  no  longer  think  of 
blood  when  it  is  shed  as  life  ;  but  the  key  to  primitive 
thought  about  blood  is  the  fact  that  the  life,  with  all  its 
perils  and  powers,  is  still  in  that  red  pool  which  has  gushed 
from  the  dying  man,  or  spurted  from  the  neck  of  the  slain 
animal.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  blood  is  tabooed,  on  the  one 
hand,  as  a  source  of  peril,  or  used  in  magic,  on  the  other, 
as  a  means  of  power.  This  attitude  explains  many  of  the 
customs  and  ideas  attaching  to  covenants,  sacrifice,  and 
the  primitive  justice  of  blood-revenge.  Three  of  these 
customs  are  found  in  Deuteronomy.  One  is  the  well- 
known  blood  taboo,  forbidding  blood  to  be  eaten  with 
meat  of  slain  animals  :  '  Ye  shall  not  eat  the  blood  ;  thou 
shalt  pour  it  out  upon  the  earth  as  water '  (xii.  l6 :  cf.  xv. 
23) ;  '  The  blood  is  the  life  ;  and  thou  shalt  not  eat  the 
life  with  the  flesh '  (xii.  23).  Probably,  also,  the  law  for- 
bidding any  animal  dying  of  itself  to  be  eaten  rests  partly 
on  the  idea  that  the  coagulated  blood  cannot  be  drained 
from  its  veins  (xiv.  21).  Further,  we  have  in  this  book 
examples  of  the  psychical  stain  of  blood,  the  idea  that 
where  blood  has  fallen  a  certain  peril  attaches.  A  battle- 
ment is  to  be  made  round  the  roof  of  the  Israelite  house 
'that  thou  bring  not  blood  upon  thine  house,  if  any  m.in 
fall  from  thence '  (xxii.  8).  There  is  also  a  striking  ritual 
in  the  case  of  the  finding  of  a  murdered  body,  the 
murderer  being  unknown.  The  responsibility  rests  on 
the  nearest  community,  whose  elders  must  purge  away  the 


INTRODUCTION  25 

stain  of  blood  by  breaking  the  neck  of  an  unused  heifer 
in  a  valley  with  running  water,  and  by  washing  their 
hands  over  it,  with  the  confession  of  innocence  (xxi. 
1-9).  As  a  third  example  of  the  significance  of  blood, 
there  is  the  practice  of  blood-revenge  mentioned  in 
connexion  with  the  cities  of  refuge  (xix.  1-13). 

2.  The  mystery  of  life  and  death,  underlying  blood, 
receives  illustration  in  other  ways  also.  Birth  is  a  mys- 
tery, and  the  first-born  of  man  or  animal  is  regarded  in  a 
peculiar  light.  In  Deuteronomy  this  finds  evidence  in 
regard  to  animals  only :  *  All  the  firstling  males  that  are 
born  of  thy  herd  and  of  thy  flock  thou  shalt  sanctify  unto 
Yahweh  thy  God '  (xv.  19).  Perhaps,  also,  the  mystery  of 
generation  may  underlie  the  severity  of  the  obscure  law 
relating  to  an  assault  by  a  woman  (xxv.  11,  12:  cf.  Cook, 
The  Laws  of  Moses  and  the  Code  of  Haninmrabi,  p.  251). 
Death,  like  birth,  is  a  mystery,  and  the  presence  of  death 
is  always  a  peril.  Hence,  the  body  of  a  malefactor  who 
has  been  hanged  is  not  to  remain  all  night  unburied : 
'  that  thou  defile  not  thy  land  which  Yahweh  thy  God 
giveth  thee  for  an  inheritance '  (xxi.  22,  23).  The  pro- 
hibition of  mutilations  in  connexion  with  death  opens  up 
the  large  subject  of  mourning  customs :  '  Ye  are  the 
children  of  Yahweh  your  God ;  ye  shall  not  cut  your- 
selves, nor  make  any  baldness  between  your  eyes  for  the 
dead'  (xiv.  i).  Deuteronomy  here  opposes  offerings  of 
blood  and  hair  at  the  grave,  of  universal  prevalence ;  in 
some  way  they  are  thought  to  bind  the  living  to  the  dead, 
and  to  secure  the  friendship  of  ghosts. 

3.  One  of  the  principal  dififerences  between  primitive 
and  modern  psychology  lies  in  the  belief  that  external 
influences  enter  into  the  life  through  channels  other 
than  those  of  the  senses.  We  think  of  Man-soul  as  a 
fortified  city,  with  certain  definite  gates  ;  the  primitive 
man  conceived  himself  as  an  unwalled  settlement,  open 
to  invasion  on  every  hand.  This  is  the  psychological 
atmosphere  which  explains  magic  at  the  bottom  of  the 


26       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

scale  and  prophetic  inspiration  at  the  top.  One  of  the 
aims  of  the  Deuteronomic  reform  is  to  lift  men's  thought 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  of  these  levels,  within  the 
same  atmosphere.  Consequently,  a  number  of  magical  or 
unspiritual  methods  are  condemned  (xviii.  lo,  1 1 ).  Israel's 
future  communion  with  the  spiritual  world  is  to  be  through 
a  spiritual  channel — that  of  the  prophet.  The  practices 
condemned  or  modified  in  the  interests  of  the  religion 
of  Yahweh  illustrate  the  conditions  of  thought  from  which 
has  arisen  the  higher  and  purer  belief.  Thus,  it  is  forbidden 
to  seethe  a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk  (xiv.  21),  probably  with 
reference  to  the  preparation  of  certain  charms,  which  seem 
to  have  been  used  in  the  fertilization  of  land;  milk  has, 
a  mystery  akin  to  that  of  blood  (Robertson  Smith,  Rel. 
Se??t.,  p.  221  n.).  The  law  which  is  sometimes  called 
euphemistically  'cleanliness  in  the  camp'  is  really  a 
development  of  the  belief  that  everything  connected 
with  the  human  body  is  a  peril  to  it,  if  falling  into  the 
hands  of  ill-disposed  persons  (xxiii.  9-14).  The  plague 
of  leprosy— always  a  mysterious  disease  to  the  Israelite- 
is  explained  and  treated  by  what  we  should  call  psychical 
rather  than  physiological  methods  (xxiv.  8,  9).  The  com- 
mand to  wear  tassels  of  twisted  cords  on  the  corners  of 
the  garment  (xxii.  12),  like  that  to  wear  frontlets— the  later 
phylacteries — (vi.  8,  xi.  18),  is  to  be  connected  with  the 
widespread  use  of  amulets  amongst  ancient  and  modern 
peoples.  The  exhortation  to  keep  a  vow  once  made  (xxiii. 
21-3)  is  explicable  enough  to  us  on  purely  moral  grounds, 
but  the  origin  of  the  regard  for  vows  lies  in  the  ancient 
regard  for  the  spoken  word,  as  something  charged  with 
powers  of  its  own  of  curse  or  blessing. 

4.  A  fourth  group,  consisting  of  references  to  fetishistic 
and  totemistic  beliefs,  remains  to  be  noticed.  The  pi^eiple 
of  fetishism  is  that  which  regards  the  material  object  as  the 
temporary  or  permanent  dwelling-place  of  a  hidden  and 
mysterious  power ;  this  underlies  the  use  of  the  wooden 
post  or  Asherah,  and  the  stone  pillar  or  Mazzebah,  against 


INTRODUCTION  27 

which  Deuteronomy  wages  relentless  warfare  (xii.  3,  xvi. 
21,  22),  One  of  the  most  significant  features  of  the 
Deuteronomic  reform  lies  in  this  protest  against  customs 
hitherto  natural  to  Israel  with  its  neighbours ;  the  later 
force  and  attraction  of  Israel's  faith  for  the  nations  lay 
in  this  very  rejection  of  material  emblems  as  inade- 
quate for  a  spiritual  God.  The  principle  of  totemism, 
brought  out  in  recent  researches  into  the  ways  of  Austra- 
lian aborigines,  is  that  of  the  group  relationship  of  men  to 
animals  or  plants.  This  may  be  a  development  from  the 
plain  fact  of  human  dependence  on  these  for  food  ;  it 
comes  to  mean  that  a  definite  human  group  is  connected 
with  a  definite  family  of  plants  or  animals,  which  it  mul- 
tiplies by  its  rites,  and  on  whose  well-being  its  own  depends.  / 
Possibly  we  should  connect  the  list  of  clean  and  unclean 
animals  in  Deuteronomy  (xiv.  3-20)  chiefly  with  such 
early  totemistic  beliefs,  whether  flourishing  among  the 
surrounding  people,  or  among  the  Israelites  themselves ; 
Israel  is  to  be  saved  from  unspiritual  cults  by  avoidance 
of  the  animals  with  which  they  are  bound  up.  Perhaps 
a  similar  range  of  belief  will  best  explain  the  difficult  laws 
against  sowing  the  vineyard  with  two  kinds  of  seeds, 
ploughing  with  an  ox  and  an  ass,  or  wearing  mingled 
stuff  (xxii.  9-1 1 ) ;  or  these  may  spring  from  ideas  as  to 
the  mystery  of  sex. 

II.  From  these  interesting  indications  of  the  survival 
of  earlier  beliefs,  we  may  pass  to  the  direct  legislation  of 
Deuteronomy  in  regard  to  persons.  As  already  indicated 
in  the  account  of  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  occupies  a  transitional  place  between  the 
earlier  corporate  responsibility  and  the  later  individualism, 
to  which  it  has  largely  contributed.  The  injustice  of 
treating  the  whole  family  as  the  criminal  unit  is  fully 
recognized  (xxiv.  16).  What  Maine  sums  up  as  the  pro- 
gress from  Status  to  Contract  {op.  df.,  p.  170) — i.e.  from 
life  as  determined  by  position  in  a  family  to  life  as  con- 
ditioned by  personal  agreement— is  here  visible  in  many 


28       THE   BOOK  OF  DEUTERONOMY 

ways.  We  have  a  number  of  laws  relating  to  maniage 
and  sexual  relations,  designed  not  only  to  promote  moral- 
ity, but  (to  do  what  is  the  same  thing  under  another  name) 
to  give  woman  her  natural  rights  and  protection.  This  is 
shown  in  a  most  impressive,  because  quite  indirect,  way 
in  the  form  which  the  Tenth  Commandment  assumes  in 
its  quotation  in  Deuteronomy.  The  wife  appears  in  the 
Exodus  version  (xx.  17)  as  one  of  the  chattels  of  the 
house,  and  is  named  after  the  house,  together  with  the 
slaves,  the  oxen,  and  the  asses.  But  in  the  Deuteronomic 
version  the  wife  is  named  before  the  house,  and  is  placed 
in  a  separate  sentence,  a  different  verb,  with  a  higher 
shade  of  meaning,  being  used  (Deut.  v.  21).  The  same 
principle  operates  in  regard  to  the  rights  even  of  women 
taken  captive  in  war.  Before  one  of  these  can  become 
the  wife  of  her  captor,  she  is  to  be  allowed  the  full 
interval  for  mourning  her  dead,  her  head  being  shaved 
and  her  nails  pared,  probably  in  accordance  with  mourning 
customs  ;  nor  can  she  be  subsequently  sold  for  money,  or 
dealt  with  as  a  mere  slave  (xxi.  10-14).  Baseless  scandal 
against  a  newly-married  woman  is  severely  punished 
(xxii.  13-21),  and  a  rough  principle  of  discrimination  is 
introduced  in  alleged  cases  of  sexual  immorality  (xxii. 
22-7) ;  a  girl  who  has  been  wronged  is  to  be  married, 
and  the  heir  to  an  estate  does  not  inherit  his  father's  wives 
(xxii.  30),  as  by  the  older  custom  (2  Sam.  xvi.  22).  Divorce 
is  regulated  (xxiv.  1-4),  and  immorality  under  the  cloak  of 
religion  is  rebuked  (xxiii.  17,  18:  cf.  xxii.  5?).  Levirate 
marriage  (xxv.  5-10)  secures  succession  for  the  childless  ; 
he  who  renounces  his  duty  in  this  respect  has  to  submit 
to  a  humiliating  symbolical  ceremony,  in  which  his  sandal 
is  loosed,  in  the  presence  of  the  elders,  by  the  woman 
he  will  not  marry  (xxv.  9).  As  the  rights  of  women  are 
protected,  so  are  those  of  children.  An  interesting  law 
deals  with  the  right  of  primogeniture,  which  is  made 
inalienable.  According  to  Hebrew  law,  the  first-born 
would  receive  twice   the  portion   of  the   others— which 


INTRODUCTION  29 

explains  Elisha's  prayer  for  a  double  portion  of  the  spirit 
of  Elijah  ;  if,  now,  a  man's  eldest  son  is  born  of  a  wife  he 
dislikes,  he  may  not  set  this  child  aside  for  the  sake  of 
one  born  of  his  favomite  (xxi.  15-17).  On  the  other 
hand,  the  rights  of  the  parents  in  regard  to  their  sons  are 
safeguarded,  and  a  persistently  disobedient  son  can  be 
brought  to  the  elders  of  the  city,  and  is  even  liable  to 
death  by  stoning  (xxi.  18-21).  It  is  eminently  character- 
istic of  Deuteronomy  that  it  should  lay  stress  on  the 
religious  training  of  children  :  *  These  words  which  I 
command  thee  this  day  shall  be  upon  thine  heart  ;  and 
thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and 
shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and 
when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down, 
and  when  thou  risest  up '  (vi.  6,  7  :  cf.  verse  20  f.).  The 
circle  of  rights  and  duties  extends  beyond  the  family  to 
its  slaves,  and  to  those  without,  even  to  aliens  dwelling  in 
the  midst  of  Israel.  A  law  which  throws  considerable 
light  on  the  influences  making  ancient  domestic  slavery 
so  very  different  a  thing  from  modern  commercial  slavery 
not  only  deals  with  the  emancipation  of  the  slave  in  the 
seventh  year  of  service,  but  contemplates  the  possibility 
of  his  preferring  to  remain  for  ever  in  the  family  of  his 
master ;  and  if  he  prefers  to  go  he  is  not  to  be  sent  empty 
away  (xv.  12-18).  On  the  other  hand,  he  who  robs  a 
brother  Israelite  of  his  freedom,  and  sells  him  into  slavery, 
is  liable  to  a  capital  sentence  (xxi v.  7 :  cf.  Cook,  op.  ciL, 
p.  241).  The  duty  which  an  Israelite  owes  to  the  stranger 
who  dwells  in  his  community  is  constantly  emphasized, 
but  as  a  principle  of  morality  rather  than  as  matter  of 
explicit  enactments  {i^ide  infra:  Justice  and  Humanity). 
III.  From  the  Law  of  Persons  we  pass  to  the  Law  of 
Property,  though  we  must  not  forget  Maine's  reminder 
'  that  the  separation  of  the  Law  of  Persons  from  that  of 
Things  has  no  meaning  in  the  infancy  of  the  law,  that 
the  rules  belonging  to  the  two  departments  are  inextricably 
mingled  together'  {op.  cit.,  p.  259).     Thus,  one  of  the 


30       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

marriage  laws  already  noticed  deals  with  the  daughter 
as  the  father's  property,  estimated  at  the  value  of  fifty 
shekels  of  silver  (xxii.  29);  whilst  the  person  of  a  debtor 
is  liable  for  his  debt  (xv.  12).  The  laws  of  property  are 
usually  as  significant  of  social  conditions  as  the  laws  of 
persons  are  of  moral  principles ;  but  the  two  realms  are 
closely  intermingled,  and  it  is  chiefly  for  the  convenience 
of  our  own  habits  of  thought  that  we  are  entitled  to 
make  the  distinction  between  persons  and  property. 
The  social  conditions  implied  in  the  Deuteronomic 
Code  are  those  of  an  agricultural  people,  as  con- 
trasted with  the  more  commercial  character  of  many 
of  the  laws  of  the  Babylonian  ;  but,  as  Cook  says  {pp.  cit., 
p.  272), '  That  laws  relating  to  trade  and  commerce  should 
fail  to  find  a  place  in  the  Hebrew  legislation  is  not 
surprising  when  it  is  considered  how  widely  conditions 
in  Israel  differed  from  those  in  Babylonia.'  /\Ve  find 
the  regulations  we  should  naturally  expect  amongst  an 
agricultural  people  against  the  removal  of  a  neighbour's 
landmark,  '  which  they  of  old  time  have  set  *  (xix.  1 4)  ; 
the  stone  or  other  mark  of  the  boundary  was  probably 
once  consecrated  to  a  deity,  under  whose  protection  it 
stood.  A  neighbour's  vineyards  and  cornfields  may 
satisfy  one's  personal  and  present  hunger,  but  clear  limits 
are  indicated  as  to  what  may  be  taken  (xxiii.  24,  25). 
Strayed  oxen  or  sheep  are  to  be  restored,  or  kept  against 
restoration,  and  this  applies  to  all  lost  property  ;  whilst 
a  man  is  to  be  helped  with  his  fallen  ox  or  ass  (xxii.  1-4). 
A  somewhat  curious  law  declares  that  eggs  or  young  birds 
found  in  a  nest  by  accident  may  be  taken,  but  not  the 
mother  bird  ;  it  has  been  suggested  that  this  rests  on  the 
idea  of  the  mother  bird  as  common  and  public  property, 
which  may  not  be  appropriated  (xxii.  6,  7).  The  wages  of 
the  labourer  must  not  be  detained,  but  paid  daily,  whether 
he  be  Hebrew  or  foreign,  for  the  alien  has  his  rights 
(xxiv.  14,  15).  In  regard  to  borrowing  and  lending,  the 
chief  thing  that  strikes  us  about  the  laws  is  their  imprac- 


INTRODUCTION  31 

ticability  ;  indeed,  we  find  Jeremiah  complaining  (xxxiv. 
8  i.)  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  not  observed.  Limits 
are  placed  on  the  articles  that  may  be  pawned,  necessities 
like  the  millstone  being  excluded  (xxiv.  6 :  cf.  10-13) ;  no 
interest  for  the  loan  is  to  be  taken  from  a  Hebrew,  though 
it  may  be  taken  from  a  foreigner  (xxiii.  19,  20) ;  the 
curious  provision  of  the  year  of  release,  already  noticed 
in  another  connexion,  would  secure  the  remission  of  the 
debt  in  the  seventh  year,  though  some  have  held  that 
what  is  meant  is  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  right  to 
repayment  (xv.  i-ii  ;  Cook,  op.  a'L,  p.  233  n.).  We 
have  to  remember  in  all  this  that  the  code  '  contemplates 
only  those  cases  in  which  indebtedness  of  one  Israelite 
to  another  is  the  result  of  individual  poverty  ;  it  knows 
nothing  of  any  kind  of  credit  system  such  as  necessarily 
springs  up  with  the  development  of  commerce '  (Benzinger, 
La2iJ  a7id  Justice^  E.B.^  c.  2727). 

IV.  It  will  naturally  be  asked  what  provision  is  made 
for  the  carrying  out  of  these  laws,  and  for  the  effective 
promotion  of  such  legislative  reforms.  The  answer  is 
twofold :  the  organization  of  justice  is  to  be  made  more 
efficient  through  enlargement  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
priests  at  the  expense  of  the  elders ;  and  the  revival  of 
religion  is  to  supply  the  motive  for  the  higher  moral 
standards.  In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  points  (cf. 
Benzinger,  op.  ciL,  c.  27 17-27 19),  the  judicial  system 
behind  the  earlier  Book  of  the  Covenant  is  constituted  by 
the  elders  of  the  locality,  themselves  the  heads  of  families, 
who  have,  if  the  phrase  may  be  allowed,  Spooled'  their 
patriarchal  power.  These  elders  still  appear  in  the  Book 
of  Deuteronomy.  But,  as  Benzinger  points  out  {op.  cit.^ 
c.  2719),  *  The  elders  retain  within  their  competency  only 
a  limited  class  of  ofifences,'  more  especially  in  regard  to 
the  family,  the  original  sphere  of  their  jurisdiction  (xxi. 
18  f.,  xxii.  13  f.,  XXV.  7  f.,  xix.  1 1  f.,  xxi.  I  f.).  The  appoint- 
ment of  judges  is  regarded  as  the  work  of  Moses  (i.  9-18) ; 
each  locality  is  to  have  its  professional  staff  (xvi.  18),     The 


32       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTEPvONOMY 

higher  court  is  now  the  priestly  college  at  Jerusalem  (xvii. 
8-13).  Here  the  priests  examine  into  the  case,  and  show 
the  sentence  of  judgement.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  king 
appears  to  be  limited  to  the  enforcement  of  this  priestly 
jurisdiction  (xvii.  18-20).  In  regard  to  the  details  of  the 
new  administration,  we  notice  not  only  exhortations  to  fair 
dealing  (xxv.  13-16),  and  just  judgement,  and  to  the  refusal 
of  bribes  (xvi.  19),  but,  what  was  probably  more  effective, 
two  or  three  witnesses  are  required  (xvii.  6,  xix.  15), 
and  a  severe  sentence  is  prescribed  against  perjury, 
the  only  case  where  the  old  jus  talionis  is  applied  (xix. 
15-21).  We  notice  also  two  important  steps  forward,  or 
rather  the  recognition  of  two  principles  which  make  for 
progress  in  justice.  One  is  the  recognition  of  motive  as 
a  determining  factor  in  manslaughter  (xix.  4) ;  the  other 
is  the  precaution  against  excess  in  the  punishment,  which 
is  to  be  administered,  in  the  case  of  the  bastinado,  in  the 
presence  of  the  judge  (xxv.  1-3  :  '  Forty  stripes  he  may 
give  him,  he  shall  not  exceed ').  But  the  greatest  progress 
is  in  the  attempt  to  lift  conduct  from  the  letter  of  justice  to 
the  spirit  of  mercy,  and  to  present  the  ideal  of  humanity 
towards  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  The  attempt  to 
secure  humanity  in  warfare  (chap,  xx)  was  probably  as  im- 
practicable as  are  present  attempts  at  securing  interna- 
tional arbitration.  But  one  cannot  miss  the  higher  spirit 
that  animates  the  appeals  to  kindness  and  humanity  in 
the  personal  relationships  of  life  (xxiv.  17,  18,  19-22: 
of.  X.  19,  '  Love  ye  therefore  the  stranger,  for  ye  were 
strangers  in  the  land  of  Egj^pt').  This  spirit  is  incul- 
cated, not  only  towards  dependents  and  strangers,  but  even 
towards  animals  ('  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he 
treadeth  out  the  corn,'  xxv.  4)  \  Its  presence  may  seem 
incongruous  in  a  law  code,  whilst  we  consider  only  the 
limits  of  practical  enforcement ;  but  it  may  remind  us  that 


*  Cf.  the  philanthropic  reason  assigned  for  the  keeping  of 
the  Sabbath  (v.  14  :  contrast  Exod.  xx.  11)/ 


INTRODUCTION  33 

the  code  of  law  of  any  community  always  lags  behind  the 
highest  moral  ideals,  and  depends  on  them  both  for  its 
continual  improvement  and  for  the  very  life-breath  of  its 
efficiency.  For  mercy  is  not  only  above  the  sceptred  sway 
of  the  throned  monarch ;  from  the  heart  where  it  is  en- 
throned it  sends  forth  the  pulsing  life,  without  which  the 
sceptre  will  drop  from  the  nerveless  grasp,  and  the  mo^t 
elaborate  code  of  laws  be  as  dead  as  that  of  Hammurabi. 

III.    The  Deuteronomic  Religion. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  is  described  by  Dillmann 
(p.  602)  and  by  Driver  (p.  xxvi)  as  'a  prophetical  law 
book/  by  Bertholet  (p.  xiii)  as  a  '  crystallization  of  pro- 
phetical thoughts,'  by  Steuernagel  (p.  xx)  as  the  tangible 
and  practicable  expression  of  more  than  a  century's 
efforts  after  reform.  The  book  itself  bears  explicit 
testimony  to  its  reverence  for  the  prophet's  mission; 
Moses  is  represented  as  promising  a  succession  of 
prophets  like  himself  to  be  the  authoritative  channels  of 
the  Divine  revelation  (xviii.  15  f.).  But  a  more  impres- 
sive memorial  of  the  reverence  in  which  the  great 
prophets  of  the  eighth  century  were  held  by  the  reforming 
party  consists  in  the  fact  that  Deuteronomy  would  be 
inconceivable  without  them,  and  that  almost  every  page 
of  its  appeals  bears  the  impress  of  the  teaching  of  Amos, 
Hosea,  Isaiah,  Micah. 

The  principles  inculcated  by  these  prophets,  which 
are  expressed  and  practically  applied  in  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy,  are  as  follows  :—- 

I.  Yahweh  alone  is  to  be  worshipped  (vi.  4,  13,  14),  not 
simply  because  His  revealed  character  deserves  the  abso- 
lute devotion  He  claims  from  the  Israelite,  but  because 
no  other  god  can  challenge  the  supreme  and  universal 
rule  of  Yahweh,  the  '  God  of  gods'  (x.  17) ;  indeed,  there 
is  no  god  beside  Him  (iv.  35,  39).  Cf.  Amos,  i-ii,  ix.  2,  4,  7  ; 
Hos.  v.  14,  viii.  14,  xi.  II,  xii.  9,  xiii.  4,  xiv.  3;  Isaiah 
i.  24,  ii.  lof.,  X.  5f.,  &c. ;  Micah  i.  3f.,  iv.  6f.,  12,  v.  15. 

V 


1 

34      THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

II.  No  image  or  material  representation  of  Him  maybe 
used  in  His  worship  (vii.  25,  xii.  2-5,  xvi.  21,  22:  cf.  iv. 
12-19,  V.  8).  Cf.  Hos.  iv.  17,  viii.  4,  x.  5,  xiii.  2 ;  Isaiah  ii. 
20,  xxx.  22,  xxxi.  7 ;  Micah  i.  7,  v.  13,  14  ;  (?)  Amos  viii.  14. 
'"''  III.  His  character  is  wholly  moral  (vii.  9,  10 ;  x.  17, 
18).  Cf.  Amos  V.  14,  15,  24;  Hos.  ii.  19,  20,  iv.  if.,  v. 
4 ;  Isaiah  i.  4,  15  f,  v.  7,  &c. ;  Micah  ii.  7,  &c. 

IV.  Past  history  and  present  Providence  reveal  that  the 
principles  of  Divine  government  are  moral  (v.  33,  vi.  3,  vii. 
12  f.,  xi.  13-17,  26-8,  xxvi.  5  f.,  xxviii,  xxx).  Cf.  Amos  i,  ii, 
iii.  I,  2,  iv.  6-1 1,  vii-ix  ;  Hos.  ii.  5  f.,  iv,  9,  vi.  5,  &c.  ; 
Isaiah  i.  5,  xxviii.  23-9,  &c.  ;  Micah  iii.  12. 

V.  The  relation  of  Israel  to  Yahweh  h^s  in  it  a  moral 
demand,  to  be  fulfilled  through  whole-hearted  love  for 
Him  (vi.  5,  vii.  6-8,  viii.  5,  xiv.  2,  xxx.  11-14).  Cf.  Amos 
iii.  I,  2;  Hos.  ii.  19,  iv.  if.,  xi.  1-3;  Isaiah  i.  21,  &c. ; 
Micah  vi.  8. 

VI.  His  great  requirement  is  that  man  should  render 
to  man  what  is  right  (v.  14,  x.  19,  xii.  19,  xiv.  29,  xv.  7, 
15,  xvi.  19,  xxii.  1-4,  xxiv.  14,  15,  17-22,  xxv.  13-16). 
Sacrifice  and  the  ritual  of  religion  occupy  a  place  in  the 
worship  of  Yahweh  subordinate  to  this  chief  requirement 
of  social  righteousness.  Cf.  Amos  iii.  10,  iv.  t,  4,  v. 
10,  21  f.,  viii.  4-6 ;  Hos.  vi.  6,  viii.  13,  ix.  4,  x.  12  ;  Isaiah 
i,  &€.,  Micah  ii.  i,  iii,  vi.  10. 

I.  We  begin  with  what  is  undoubtedly  the  central 
doctrine  of  Deuteronomy,  the  unique  claims  of  Yahweh. 
It  is  important  to  understand  clearly  what  we  mean  by 
speaking  of  Hebrew  Monotheism.  In  the  Decalogue  we 
read, '  Thou  shall  have  none  other  gods  beside  me*  (v.  7). 
This  command  does  not  deny  the  existence  of  other 
gods ;  it  simply  declares  that  Israel  has  nothing  to  do 
with  them.  An  early  Hebrew  song  calls  the  Moabites 
*  the  people  of  Kemosh,'  who  '  hath  given  his  sons  as 
fugitives,  and  his  daughters  into  captivity'  (Num.  xxi. 
29).  Similarly,  the  Moabites  would  call  Israel  the  people 
of  Yahweh.     On  the  well-known  Moabite  Stone  we  find 


INTRODUCTION  35 

an  excellent  illustration  of  the  relation  of  a  Semitic  people 
to  its  deity.  King  Mesha  of  Moab  ascribes  the  victories 
of  Omri  of  Israel  over  Moab  to  the  anger  of  Kemosh  with 
his  land.  At  last  Kemosh  saw  fit  to  restore  the  lost 
territory,  and  to  direct  a  successful  campaign  against 
Israel,  part  of  the  spoil  being  the  vessels  of  the  defeated 
Yahweh  of  Israel.  For  ancient  thought,  the  drums  and 
tramplings  of  peoples  mark  the  strife  of  rival  deities,  each 
powerful  in  his  own  domain,  and  only  occasionally  beyond 
it.  It  is  from  such  a  conception  of  Yahweh  that  Hebrew 
Monotheism  and  Christian  Theism  have  developed,  not 
by  any  abstract  denial  of  the  existence  of  extra-territorial 
deities,  but  by  putting  more  and  more  meaning  into  the 
character  of  Yahweh  and  His  relation  to  His  people  until 
there  was  no  room  left  for  other  gods,  and  they  faded 
away  into  mere  spectres  and  shades.  This  is  parti- 
cularly the  work  of  the  four  prophets  of  the  eighth  century 
(see  the  references  above).  They  can  be  called  practical 
monotheists,  not  because  they  deny  that  other  gods  exist, 
but  because  they  so  exalt  Yahweh  that  He  becomes  the 
only  spiritual  power  of  whom  account  need  be  taken. 
Deuteronomy  follows  them  in  the  utterance  of  its  doctrinal 
principle :  '  Hear,  O  Israel :  Yahweh  our  God  is  one 
Yahweh ' ;  or,  as  seems  a  preferable  translation  :  '  Yahweh 
is  our  God,  Yahweh  alone '  (vi.  4).  This  sentence  does 
not  assert  that  there  is  no  other  god ;  indeed,  within  the 
same  chapter,  there  is  a  nominal  recognition  of  the  exist- 
ence of  other  gods  :  *  Ye  shall  not  go  after  other  gods,  of 
the  gods  of  the  peoples  which  are  round  about  you  * 
(vi.  14).  But  it  presents  Yahweh  as  the  one  and  only  one 
object  of  Israel's  love  and  worship,  one  in  the  sense  that 
the  horizon  of  Israelite  religion  includes  no  other,  which 
is  practical  if  not  philosophical  monotheism.  Indeed,  a 
century  after,  we  find  the  monotheistic  inference  drawn 
in  similar  terms :  '  And  Yahweh  shall  become  king  over 
all  the  earth  ;  in  that  day  shall  Yahweh  be  one,  and  His 
name  one '  (Zech.  xiv*  9).    Within  the  later  strata  of  the 

D  2 


36       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

Book  of  Deuteronomy  itself  we  pass  from  implicit  to  ex- 
plicit monotheism,  as  the  product  of  quasi-philosophical 
reflection.  In  the  fourth  chapter  (exilic)  we  find  the  gods 
are  regarded  as  mere  idols,  '  the  work  of  men's  hands, 
wood  and  stone,  which  neither  see  nor  hear  nor  eat  nor 
smell '  (verse  28)  ;  '  Yahweh,  He  is  God  ;  there  is  none  else 
beside  Him'  (verse  35) ;  '  Yahweh,  He  is  God  in  heaven 
above  and  upon  the  earth  beneath  :  there  is  none  else  * 
(verse  39).  Nothing  more  explicit  than  this  statement 
can  be  wanted,  and  it  is  reached  by  the  double  process  of 
degrading  other  deities  into  lifeless  idols,  and  of  exalting 
Yahweh  from  one  tribal  deity  among  many  to  the  One 
and  only  God,  by  virtue  of  His  attributes  and  power. 

2.  The  practical  deduction  from  this  prophetic  principle, 
which  gives  a  special  character  to  the  legislation  of 
Deuteronomy,  is  the  law  of  the  central  sanctuary.  We 
must  not  regard  it  as  a  merely  theoretical  inference,  that 
because  there  is  only  one  God  there  must  be  only  one 
sanctuary.  More  probably,  this  application  is  due  to  the 
practical  necessities  of  reform.  The  prophets  had  attacked 
the  worship  associated  with  the  various  high  places 
scattered  through  the  country  in  no  measured  terms,  either 
because  they  ofifered  a  delusive  substitute  for  the  practice 
of  morality  (Amos  iv.  4)  or  because  of  the  immoral  prac- 
tices connected  with  their  cults  (Hosea,  supra)  ;  they  had 
denounced  idolatry,  because  of  its  inadequacy  to  represent 
deity  (Isa.  ii.  8,  20)  or  because  of  its  practical  associa- 
tions (Micah  i.  7).  But  the  long  reign  of  Manasseh, 
during  which  so  much  heathen  and  idolatrous  worship 
had  prevailed,  showed  that  the  truth  was  not  yet  able  to 
hold  its  own  against  the  vested  interests,  the  old- 
established  prejudices,  the  ignorance  and  want  of  intelli- 
gence, of  those  connected  with  the  local  cults.  Something 
definite  must  be  done  to  bring  home  the  prophetic  ideals 
to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  insistence  of  Isaiah  on 
the  inviolability  of  Jerusalem  (xxxvii.  35,  xxviii.  16),  and 
the  confirmation  of  this  doctrine  by  the  deliverance  from 


INTRODUCTION  37 

Sennacherib  (Isa.  xxxvii.  22, 33),  must  have  largely  helped 
to  establish  the  prestige  of  the  temple  in  the  capital.  If 
the  worship  of  the  land  were  centralized  here,  a  high  and 
worthy  type  might  be  maintained,  whilst  all  other  lower 
forms  might  be  declared  illegitimate.  Nor  was  this  ideal 
so  impracticable  as  it  might  at  first  sight  seem  to  us.  '  The 
whole  land  of  Israel  is  small  :  Jerusalem  is  distant  from 
the  sea  only  thirty-three  miles,  from  Jordan  about 
eighteen,  from  Hebron  nineteen,  and  from  Samaria  thirty- 
four  or  thirty-five'  (G.  A.  Smith,  E.B.,  c.  2417).  When 
we  remember  the  small  extent  of  this  territory,  which  we 
so  easily  forget  in  view  of  the  magnitude  of  the  spiritual 
interests  of  Israel,  much  becomes  explicable  in  the  ideals 
of  the  reformers,  and  the  sweeping  character  of  the 
reformation.  It  was  no  Utopian  dream  to  conceive  a 
land,  so  small,  trained  to  worship  Yahweh  at  its  capital 
city  in  an  imageless  and  moral  worship.  The  rejected 
elements  of  the  local  cults  of  Yahweh  (to  say  nothing  of 
the  worship  of  rival  deities)  are  the  image  or  material 
representation  of  Yahweh,  which  is  unworthy  of  His 
nature  (iv.  12-19),  and  immoral  elements  such  as  sacred 
prostitution,  or  the  sacrifice  of  children,  which  are  directly 
opposed  to  His  requirements  (xxiii.  17,  18;  xii.  31,  xviii. 
10).  The  stone  pillar  and  the  wooden  post  were  also 
condemned  (xvi.  21,  22)  because  both  could  detract  from 
the  spirituality  of  God  and  engender  superstition,  whilst 
the  latter  seems  to  have  been  connected  specially  with 
immorality.  These  were,  wholly  or  chiefly,  elements 
absorbed  into  Hebrew  religion  from  the  cults  of  Canaan  ; 
so  that  the  reformation  was  a  genuine  return  to  the  strong 
simplicity  of  the  earlier  worship  of  Yahweh  with,  of 
course,  the  added  ideas  drawn  from  centuries  of  history, 
and  continued  progress  in  moral  and  social  development  ^ 
The  chief  element  retained  from  the  high  places  destroyed 

^  Bertholet,  op,  cit.,  xxvii,  emphasizes  the  loss  to  the  people 
in  the  secularization  of  their  life.  No  doubt  the  immediate  less 
was  real  enough,  but  it  was  the  price  of  progress. 


38       THE  BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

was  that  of  sacrifice,  to  which  the  prophets,  as  a  whole, 
were  by  no  means  kindly  disposed;  but  the  attitude  of 
the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  to  sacrifice,  and  the  place  given 
to  it  in  the  prescribed  worship,  are  very  different  from  that 
of  the  later  Levitical  system  \ 

The  practical  character  and  aim  of  the  Deuteronomic 
centralization  of  worship  are  further  seen  in  the  related  laws 
meant  to  meet  the  difficulties  occasioned  by  the  change. 
Provision  is  made  for  the  dispossessed  priests  of  the  local 
sanctuaries  (xviii.  6-8) ;  the  protection  of  the  fugitive 
from  the  avenger  of  blood,  once  provided  at  the  local 
shrines,  is  now  to  be  found  at  the  cities  of  refuge  instituted 
for  the  purpose  (xix.  2f.).  The  annual  festivals  and 
pilgrimages,  the  expression  of  the  agricultural  life  of 
Canaan,  are  now  to  be  celebrated  at  the  one  sanctuary 
(xvi.  i6).  The  produce  of  the  tithe,  which  may  be  too 
bulky  to  carry  to  Jerusalem,  it  is  permitted  to  change 
into  money  to  be  expended  there  (xiv.  22-7).  The  slaughter 
of  animals  for  food  loses  its  ancient  sacrificial  character 
on  ordinary  occasions,  the  only  requirement  being  that 
\he  blood  is  to  be  poured  out  on  the  ground  (xii.  16,  24). 

3.  But  the  law  of  the  central  sanctuary,  with  its  various 
safeguards,  would  have  had  little  significance  in  the 
history  of  religion  if  it  had  not  been  the  expression  of 
a  conception  of  God  capable  of  unlimited  growth  and 
application.  We  have  seen  that  the  positive  impulse  to 
monotheism  was  an  exalted  conception  of  the  character 
of  Israel's  God  ;  it  is  this  we  have  now  to  notice  more 
closely.  Two  passages,  in  particular,  illustrate  this  con- 
ception :  *  The  faithful  God,  which  keepeth  covenant  and 
mercy  with  them  that  love  Him  and  keep  His  command- 
ments to  a  thousand  generations ;  and  repayeth  them  that 

*  Prior  to  D,  the  burnt-offering  and  the  peace-offering  are 
found  (Exod.  xx.  24,  cf.  xxiv.  5).  D  adds  the  heave-offering 
(Deut.  xii.  6,  1 7).  P  adds  not  only  the  oblation  or  meal-offering 
(Lev.  ii.  I  f.),  but  the  sin-offering  (v.  1-6),  central  in  the  Day 
of  Atonement  (Lev.  xvi.  3),  and  the  guilt-offering  (Lev.  v.  14-16. 


INTRODUCTION  39 

hate  Him  to  their  face,  to  destroy  them:  He  will  not  be 
slack  to  him  that  hateth  Him,  He  will  repay  him  to  his 
face'  (vii.  9,  10);  'Yahweh  your  God,  He  is  God  of  gods 
and  Lord  of  lords,  the  great  God,  the  mighty,  and  the 
terrible,  which  regardeth  not  persons,  nor  taketh  reward. 
He  doth  execute  the  judgement  of  the  fatherless  and 
widow,  and  loveth  the  stranger,  in  giving  him  food  and 
raiment.  ...  He  is  thy  praise,  and  He  is  thy  God,  that 
hath  done  for  thee  these  great  and  terrible  things,  which 
thine  eyes  have  seen'  (x.  17-21). 

The  conception  of  God  involved  in  such  descriptions  is 
moral  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  moral  as  including 
both  justice  and  mercy;  and  this  conception  underlies 
the  whole  statement  of  the  requirements  of  Yahweh, 
and  the  interpretation  of  His  dealings  with  men.  The 
sources  of  this  conception  lie  open  to  us  in  the  per- 
sonalities and  dominant  conceptions  of  the  prophets ;  it 
is  one  of  the  fascinating  rewards  of  Old  Testament  study 
that  we  see  the  idea  of  God  emerging  in  its  different 
elements,  feature  by  feature,  as  the  various  elements  of 
a  portrait  emerge  on  the  developing  plate  in  the  photo- 
grapher's dark  room.  Only  as  we  study  each  contribution 
in  its  natural  historic  light  do  we  grasp  the  meaning  of 
the  great  word  that  '  God,  having  of  old  time  spoken  unto 
the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in 
divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of  these  days  spoken 
unto  us  in  his  Son '  (Heb.  i.  i,  2).  The  ethical  monotheism 
of  the  eighth-century  prophets,  which  supplies  the  passion 
and  power  of  Deuteronomy,  may  be  analysed  into  four 
more  or  less  closely  related  elements,  contributed  by  the 
four  prophets  already  named.  Amos  presents  Yahweh  to  us 
as  a  moral  ruler,  requiring  moral  obedience  (chaps,  i,  ii ; 
vii-ix)  ;  Hosea  as  a  loving  husband,  in  spite  of  Israel's 
infidelity  (chaps,  i-iii) ;  Isaiah  as  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
(v.  16,  24;  .vi.  3),  the  establisher  of  Zion  (xxxvii.  35; 
xxviii.  16)  ;  Micah  as  the  judge  of  social  injustice 
(ii.  I,  2 ;   iii.   10-12).     The   fact   that   we   have  gained, 


46       THE  BOOK  OF   DEUTERONOMY 

through  Christ,  a  still  higher  conception  of  His  character, 
must  not  blind  us  to  the  importance  of  the  contribution 
made  by  these  prophetic  pioneers,  in  their  interpretation 
of  His  ways  from  the  standpoint  of  idealized  human 
morality.  They  were  anthropomorphic  thinkers,  as  all 
men  who  dare  to  think  God  must  be;  but,  in  such 
ventures  of  faith,  everything  depends  on  the  quality  of  the 
anthropomorphism.  Elijah,  in  his  denunciation  of  the 
wrong  done  to  Naboth,  as  well  as  in  his  protest  against  the 
worship  of  Baal,  is  prophetic  of  his  successors ;  but  they 
are  able  to  rise  above  the  cruder  conceptions  of  Elijah 
into  a  more  purely  moral  and  spiritual  sphere.  It  is 
this  going  forth  of  man  to  meet  God,  this  stepping  off  the 
edge  of  the  world  into  the  darkness  of  the  unknown, 
that  forms  the  human  side  of  revelation.  Like  Moses  in 
the  ancient  tradition,  these  men  climbed  the  mount  of 
God,  and  brought  back  His  word.  It  was  fitting  that 
prophecy,  a  Canaanite  phenomenon  in  its  lower  forms, 
should  be  able  in  its  higher,  when  permeated  by  the  moral 
convictions  of  man,  to  dispossess  the  gods  of  Canaan. 

Of  these  four  prophets,  it  is  from  Hosea,  the  richest  in 
his  conception  of  Yahweh,  that  Deuteronomy  derives  its 
highest  ideas.  *  In  a  special  degree  the  author  of 
Deuteronomy  is  the  spiritual  heir  of  Hosea'  (Driver, 
Deut.  p.  xxvii).  But  we  may  notice  first  that  general 
conception  of  the  Moral  Government  of  the  world  which 
is  common  to  all  the  prophets,  and  is  specially  emphasized 
in  Amos. 

4.  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  lays  uncompromising 
strfess  on  the  retributive  righteousness  of  God  ;  for  it,  the 
past  reveals  the  intervention  of  Yahweh  in  the  affairs  of 
His  people,  His  control  of  events  in  accordance  with  their 
obedience  to  Him  (cf.  the  retrospect  of  the  first  three 
chapters).  The  broad  basis  of  appeal  to  Israel  is  that  of  the 
close  of  the  original  introduction  to  the  code  :  'Behold,  I  set 
before  you  this  day  a  blessing  and  a  curse  ;  the  blessing, 
if  ye  shall  hearken  ....  and  the  curse,  if  ye  shall  not 


INTRODUCTION  41 

hearken '  (xi.  26-8) ;  or  of  that  fine  passage  in  the  (later) 
conclusion :  *  This  commandment  which  I  command  thee 
this  day,  it  is  not  too  hard  for  thee,  neither  is  it  far 
off  .  .  .  the  word  is  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth  and 
in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayest  do  it.  See,  I  have  set 
before  thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and  death  and  evil  .  .  . 
life  and  death,  the  blessing  and  the  curse'  (xxx.  11-19). 
It  was  not  until  a  later  date,  as  in  the  Book  of  Job,  that  this 
naive  view  of  history,  as  consisting  of  direct  reward  and 
punishment,  ceased  to  be  adequate ;  and  the  inadequacy 
was  pressed  home  to  the  heart  of  the  individual  when 
the  old  national  unity  ceased  to  occupy  the  foreground  of 
religion.  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  shows  no  sense  of 
difficulty  in  maintaining  present  directness  of  retribution 
and  the  entire  adjustment  of  prosperity  to  righteousness ; 
accordingly  it  has  no  message  concerning  the  doctrine  of 
a  future  life,  by  which  that  difficulty  is  partially  met  for 
Christian  thought. 

5.  But  it  would  not  be  just  to  the  book  to  present  the 
promise  of  reward  and  the  threat  of  punishment  as  its  only 
motive  to  obedience.  Yahweh  is  to  be  loved  in  Himself 
for  what  He  is  ;  the  relation  in  which  He  stands  to  Israel 
is  not  simply  that  of  a  judge  or  ruler,  but  of  a  friend  and 
a  father.  This  is  the  chief  ground  for  holding  that 
Deuteronomy  is  specially  influenced  by  the  teaching  of 
Hosea  :  '  Thou  shalt  love  Yahweh  thy  God  with  all  thine 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might' 
(vi.  5).  We  can  see  here  the  influence  of  the  betrothal 
conception  of  Hosea,  resulting  in  a  new  inwardness  of 
motive.  The  relation  between  Yahweh  and  His  people  is 
lifted  to  a  level  of  thought  which  may  be  called  evangelical. 
Isaiah's  conception  of  a  holy  people  (vi.  5  :  cf.  iv.  3,  &:c.) 
is  given  a  noble  extension  when  this  holiness  is  made 
the  response  to  the  revealed  character  of  Yahweh  (Deut. 
vii.  6-8  ;  xiv.  2,  21  ;  xxvi.  19,  xxviii.  9);  and  this  extension 
comes  through  the  combination  of  Hosea  and  Isaiah. 
Even  when  Hosea  changes  his  figure  for  what  is  still 


42        THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

more  suggestive  of  the  true  relation  between  God  and 
man,  that  of  father  and  son,  he  is  followed  by  Deuteronomy. 
Hosea,  in  one  of  the  tenderest  passages  in  his  book, 
writes :  *  When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and 
called  my  son  out  of  Egypt  ...  I  taught  Ephraim  to 
go;  I  took  them  on  my  arms' — as  a  father  takes  the 
tired  child  whom  he  has  been  teaching  to  take  its  early 
steps  (xi.  1-3).  The  same  figure,  applied  somewhat 
differently,  meets  us  in  Deuteronomy :  '  And  thou  shalt 
consider  in  thine  heart,  that,  as  a  man  chasteneth  his 
son,  so  Yahweh  thy  God  chasteneth  thee '  (viii.  5) ;  it  is 
followed  exactly  in  i.  31. 

6.  The  humanity  of  this  relation  between  Yahweh  and 
His  people  is  reflected  in  the  relation  between  man  and 
man,  presented  as  ideal.  The  humanitarianism  of  Deutero- 
nomy is  very  marked,  as  we  hav^e  already  seen.  It  has 
well  been  said  that  'Nowhere  else  in  the  O.T.  do  we 
breathe  such  an  atmosphere  of  generous  devotion  to  God, 
and  of  large-hearted  benevolence  towards  man  ;  nowhere 
else  are  duties  and  motives  set  forth  with  greater  depth 
and  tenderness  of  feeling,  or  with  more  winning  and  per- 
suasive eloquence ;  and  nowhere  else  is  it  shown  with  the 
same  fullness  of  detail  how  high  and  noble  principles 
may  be  applied  so  as  to  elevate  and  refine  the  entire  life 
of  the  community '  (Driver,  Dent.,  p.  xxv).  If  the  object 
of  Deuteronomy  is  *  to  transform  the  Judah  of  King 
Josiah's  day  into  a  peculiar  people,  holy  and  just,  loving 
God  and  following  God's  law'  (Montefiore,  Hibbei-t 
Lectures,  p.  183),  we  must  recognize  the  primary  place 
in  this  conception  of  holiness  which  is  taken  by  the 
simple  laws  of  morality  and  fair  dealing  and  sympathy 
with  the  needs  and  difficulties  of  others.  We  have  al- 
ready noticed  such  of  these  laws  as  could  be  tabulated 
in  a  code  ;  it  only  remains  to  indicate  here  the  stress 
laid  on  such  conduct  towards  others  as  the  truest  service 
to  Yahweh.  Deuteronomy  does  not  go  to  the  length  of 
some  of  the  prophets  in   denouncing  the  formalities  of 


INTRODUCTION  43 

ritual,  yet  we  cannot  but  feel  that  the  worship  of  Yahweh 
finds,  for  the  writers,  its  aptest  and  highest  expression  in 
obedience  to  Yahweh's  laws,  amongst  which  those  of 
justice  and  mercy  to  all  men  are  not  counted  the  least  by 
a  just  and  merciful  God. 


IV.    The  Canonical  Place  and  Influence  of 

Deuteronomy. 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  is  not  only  part  of  the 
canon  of  Scripture,  it  has  been  the  nucleus  in  the  for- 
mation of  that  canon.  On  many  other  books  of  the 
Bible  the  literary  characteristics  and  the  theological 
attitude  of  Deuteronomy  have  been  strongly  impressed  ; 
whilst  it  has  been  said  with  truth  that  '  Its  influence  on 
the  domestic  and  personal  religion  of  Israel  in  all  ages 
has  never  been  exceeded  by  that  of  any  other  book  in  the 
canon '  (G.  A.  Smith,  Modern  Criticism  and  the  Preaching 
of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  163). 

I.  Deuteronomy  was  the  first  book  to  be  accepted  by 
I  srael  as  authoritative  Scripture.  N othing  of  the  literature 
of  Israel  was  regarded  as  an  authoritative  standard  of 
life  and  faith  prior  to  the  publication  of  Deuteronomy. 
The  nearest  approach  to  an  earlier  canon  is  found  in 
the  earlier  collections  of  laws,  such  as  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant  (Exod.  xx.  22— xxiii.  19)  ;  but,  probably,  such 
collections  were  drawn  up  within  the  priestly  circle  to  be 
private  manuals,  not  public  Bibles.  As  a  law  of  God, 
a  sentence  was  binding ;  so  far  there  would  be  nothing 
new  in  the  emergence  of  the  Deuteronomic  Code  as  com- 
pared with  the  oral  law.  But  now,  for  the  first  time,  the 
law  is  made  accessible  to  the  nation,  after  public  accept- 
ance, and  the  foundations  of  a  book-religion  are  laid.  By 
the  time  of  the  Maccabees  (i  Mace.  i.  56,  57)  devotion  to 
a  written  revelation  has  become  the  distinctive  mark  of 
Judaism,  and  we  understand  the  force  of  the  later  Arabic 
phrase,  applied  to  both  Jews  and  Christians,  *  the  people 


44      THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

of  the  book.'  This  development  is  the  direct  outcome  of 
the  acceptance  of  Deuteronomy,  and  continues  still  further : 
*The  movement  begun  by  Deuteronomy  does  not  close 
within  the  period  of  the  O.  T.— its  goal  is  the  Talmud  ; 
its  course  covers  more  than  a  thousand  years.  Deutero- 
nomy does  much  to  crystallize  principles  into  rules,  and 
thereby  partly  strangles  the  free  prophetic  life,  to  which  it 
so  largely  owed  its  existence'  {E.B.,  2744:  cf.  Driver, 
pp.  Ixiv,  Ixv;  Marti,  op.  cit..,  p.  65).  Yet  a  written 
revelation,  with  all  its  perils,  was  required  to  meet  the 
practical  needs  of  religion.  Because  of  it,  Israel's  exile 
could  not  destroy  her  faith  ;  it  could  only  deepen  her 
reverence  and  love  for  the  existent  literature,  and  for  the 
oral  traditions  yet  to  be  expanded  and  written,  which  were 
the  distilled  life  of  her  past.  Through  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  her  subsequent  history,  those  sacred  books,  of  which 
Deuteronomy  is  the  foundation,  become  the  tower  of  her 
strength,  the  centre  of  her  hopes.  The  historic  truth  of 
many  centuries  is  behind  that  Talmudic  parable  which 
tells  of  the  Jewish  maiden  parted  from  her  lover,  yet  keep- 
ing tioth  with  him  through  his  long  delay,  because  able  to 
go  into  her  chamber  and  read  and  reread  his  letters. 
Israel,  wrote  the  Rabbis,  is  that  maiden,  entering  her 
synagogues  to  study  the  writings  of  God.  Nor  is  the 
faith  of  Israel  alone  bound  in  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
book-religion  of  Deuteronomy.  The  faith  of  the  early 
Christian  Church,  from  its  lowliest  adherent  to  its  great 
apostle,  was  nourished  on  the  principles  preserved  through 
a  book-religion  ;  and  we  may  forgive  some  of  the  fossiliz- 
ing influences  of  Jewish  legalism  because  it  has  kept  in  its 
bed  of  limestone  the  very  forms  of  ancient  faith  for  our 
present  study  and  edification.  So  long  as  the  ideal  of 
Jeremiah  awaits  fulfilment,  and  the  law  of  God  remains 
unwritten  on  the  heart,  some  external  authority  in  religion, 
Bible  or  Church,  will  be  necessary  to  correct  the  vagaries 
of  the  individual,  and  to  develop  the  possibilities  of  the 
immature.     Deuteronomy,  at  the  head  of  the  triple  canon 


INTRODUCTION  45 

of  the  O.  T.,  may  be  said  to  contain  in  itself  '  the  law, 
the  prophets,  and  the  writings.'  Itself  a  law-book  pri- 
marily, it  is  the  outcome  of  prophetic  teaching ;  whilst 
the  two  poems  of  its  appendix  link  it  with  the  chief  repre- 
sentative of  the  third  canon,  i.  e.  the  Psalter. 

II.  In  regard  to  the  literary  and  theological  influence 
of  Deuterono7ny^  the  first  point  to  notice  is  the  relation 
of  the  book  to  the  contemporary  prophet  Jeremiah. 
The  fact  that  a  close  relation  exists  is  unmistakable. 
A  selection  from  the  many  parallels  between  the  two 
books  is  given  by  Driver,  p.  xciii ;  he  remarks  :  '  remini- 
scences from  Deuteronomy,  consisting  often  of  whole 
clauses,  are  interwoven  with  phrases  peculiar  to  Jeremiah 
himself;  and  even  where  the  words  are  not  actually  the 
same,  the  thought,  and  the  oratorical  form— the  copious 
diction,  and  sustained  periods— are  frequently  similar' 
(p.  xcii :  cf.  Deut.  iv.  29,  and  Jer.  xxix.  13  ;  iv.  34  and  xxxii. 
21  ;  v.  33  and  vii.  23  ;  xviii.  20  and  xxix.  23;  xxviii.  52 
and  V.  17,  out  of  a  very  large  number  of  cases).  Two 
explanations  have  been  given  of  this  closeness  of  relation. 
The  older  one  is  that  Jeremiah  himself  was  interested  in 
the  Deuteronomic  reform,  and  wrote  largely  under  its 
influence  (e.  g.  Montefiore,  op.  cit.,  p.  194).  One  passage 
in  particular  expressly  supports  this  view  (Jer.  xi.  I -14)  in 
which  the  prophet  is  sent  to  speak  to  the  men  of  Judah 
and  Jerusalem '  the  words  of  this  covenant,'  which,  in  view 
of  the  terms  used,  can  be  no  other  than  the  Deuteronomic. 
But  even  those  who  have  taken  this  view  have  been 
compelled  to  admit  that  Jeremiah  was  disappointed  with 
the  course  of  the  Deuteronomic  reform  (e.  g.  Cheyne, 
Jeremiah,  p.  107).  No  other  explanation  could  well  be 
given  of  the  famous  passage  which  speaks  of  the  need  for 
a  new  covenant,  more  spiritually  received :  *  I  will  put  my 
law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write 
it  .  .  .  and  they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his 
neighbour,  and  every  man  his  brother,  saying.  Know 
Yahweh  :  for  they  shall  all  know  me  *  (Jer.  xxxi.  33,  34). 


46      THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

*  Clearly,  then,'  wrote  Cheyne  in  1888,  *  Jeremiah  must 
before  this  have  begun  to  be  disappointed  with  Deutero- 
nomy. He  may  have  read  it  privately— this  perhaps  we 
may  argue  from  his  continued  allusions  to  it ;  but  in  public 
he  confined  himself  to  reproducing  its  more  spiritual, 
more  prophetic  portions'  {op.  cit.,  p.  107).  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  Jeremiah  directly  opposes  the  doctrine  of  the 
inviolable  sanctity  of  Jerusalem  and  its  temple  (chap, 
xxvi),  and  is  distinctly  recognized  in  this  as  a  successor 
to  Micah  (verse  18),  whilst  his  protest  at  the  gate  of 
Yahweh's  house  is  worthy  of  the  eighth-century  prophets  : 

*  Trust  ye  not  in  lying  words,  saying,  The  temple  of  Yahweh, 
the  temple  of  Yahweh,  the  temple  of  Yahweh,  are  these  ' 
(vii.  4).  There  is,  indeed,  one  passage  in  which  Jeremiah 
seems  to  be  attacking  the  abuses  to  which  a  written 
revelation  would  lend  itself,  if  he  is  not  criticizing 
Deuteronomy  itself :  *  How  do  ye  say,  We  are  wise,  and 
the  law  of  Yahweh  is  with  us  ?  But,  behold,  the  false  pen 
of  the  scribes  hath  wrought  falsely '  (viii.  8).  The  newer 
criticism  of  the  Book  of  Jeremiah,  of  which  Duhm's 
commentary  may  be  taken  as  representative,  regards  the 
Deuteronomic  parallels  as  later  additions,  when  the  lyri- 
cal poems  of  Jeremiah  were  worked  up  into  a  continuous 
prophecy.  (This  would  include  even  the  passage  in  the 
eleventh  chapter  to  which  reference  has  been  made  ;  the 
writer  of  it  argued  that  since  Jeremiah  was  a  contemporary 
of  the  Deuteronomic  reform,  he  must,  as  a  prophet  of 
Yahweh,  have  been  concerned  in  it—  which  is  the  way  in 
which  much  history  has  been  written,  even  to  our  own 
day.)  But,  even  if  this  extreme  view  in  regard  to 
Jeremiah  be  ultimately  adopted,  the  strong  influence  of 
Deuteronomy  is  the  more  clearly  indicated,  in  that  it 
prevailed  against  the  principles  of  Jeremiah  ;  whilst  the 
practical  failure  of  the  Deuteronomic  reform  to  which 
the  Book  of  Jeremiah  witnesses  (vi.  16-21;  xxxiv.  8f) 
only  throws  into  contrast  the  literary  dominance  of 
Deuteronomy  over  the  subsequent  history  and  literature 


INTRODUCTION  47 

of  Israel,  of  which  the  present  Book  of  Jeremiah  would 
itself  be  an  example. 

A  further  example  of  that  dominance  is  supplied  by  the 
Book  of  Kings  in  its  present  form :  *  Henceforward 
histoiy  becomes  an  exponent  of  legal  theory'  (Gray, 
E.B.y  c.  2735);  'there  seems,  indeed,  to  have  quickly 
formed  itself  a  regular  school  of  writers  upon  the  Deutero- 
nomic  pattern,  who  looked  at  history  and  religion  from 
the  Deuteronomic  point  of  view '  (Montefiore,  op.  cit.^ 
p.  193).  Reference  should  be  made  to  the  Century 
Bible  edition  of  Kings  (Skinner)  for  the  copious  evidence 
that  the  compiler  worked  from  the  standpoint  of  Deutero- 
nomy (see,  especially,  the  Introduction,  pp.  14-18).  He 
selects  his  material  from  a  religious  standpoint ;  he  traces 
the  prosperity  or  adversity  of  the  nation  to  its  obedi- 
ence or  disobedience  to  Deuteronomic  law ;  he  judges 
the  character  of  the  line  of  kings  by  their  loyalty  or 
disloyalty  to  the  Yahweh  of  Deuteronomy.  Hezekiah, 
for  example,  because  of  his  earlier  reform  on  Deuterono- 
mic lines,  receives  the  commendation :  '  He  trusted  in 
Yahweh,  the  God  of  Israel  ;  so  that  after  him  was  none 
like  him  among  all  the  kings  of  Judah,  nor  among  them 
that  were  before  him '  (2  Kings  xviii.  5).  Manasseh, 
who  built  again  the  high  places  which  his  father  had 
destroyed  (2  Kings  xxi.  3  f.),  though  he  escapes  without 
personal  disaster,  has  stored  up  retributive  adversity  for 
his  people  :  '  I  will  wipe  Jerusalem  as  a  man  wipeth  a 
dish,  wiping  it  and  turning  it  upside  down'  (verse  13),  is 
Yahweh's  word  over  Manasseh's  reign.  We  have  become 
so  accustomed  to  these  verdicts  on  the  monarchs  of 
Israel,  that  it  is  difficult  to  pass  behind  them.  Yet  thes:e 
kings  are  praised  or  pilloried  by  an  unhistoric  method  ; 
they  stand  or  fall  by  their  compliance  with  or  rejection  of 
a  book  they  never  saw.  For  the  Law-book  which  is 
mentioned  in  Kings  is,  throughout,  Deuteronomy  (cf. 
Driver,  xci.  n.)  :  the  manner  of  reference  shows  this,  for 
example,  in  David's  charge  to  Solomon  (i  Kings  ii.  3), 


48       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

*  Keep  the  charge  of  Yahweh  thy  God,  to  walk  in  His 
ways,  to  keep  His  statutes,  and  His  commandments,  and 
His  judgements  and  His  testimonies,  according  to  that 
which  is  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  that  thou  mayest 
prosper  in  all  that  thou  doest,  and  whithersoever  thou 
turnest  thyself  ;  the  reference  is  doubtless  to  the  special 
paragraph  in  Deuteronomy  urging  the  study  of  the  book 
on  the  monarch s  of  Israel. 

This  Deivteronomic  redaction  extends,  though  in  a  less 
marked  degree  in  the  case  of  Samuel,  over  the  whole  of 
the  *  Former  Prophets,'  as  they  are  called— viz.  Joshua, 
Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  (Budde,  E,B.,  (i(y6),  and  the 
influence  of  Deuteronomic  phraseology  may  be  traced  in 
certain  books  of  the  third  canon — viz.  Nehemiah,  Daniel, 
and  Chronicles  (Driver,  p.  xcii). 

In  all  this  influence  it  is  the  doctrine  of  Yahweh's 
retributive  righteousness  which  is  central,  and  the  Book 
of  Job  shows  us  how  absolutely  and  completely  this  had 
become  the  orthodox  tenet  of  Israel.  In  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  that  doctrine  was  applied  to  the  nation  as 
a  whole ;  individuals  were  involved  in  the  fate  of  the 
nation,  as  in  the  destruction  of  a  whole  city  contami- 
nated by  alien  worship  (Deut.  xiii.  12-16).  But  though, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  rights  of  the  individual  in  criminal 
law  are  recognized,  the  individual  aspects  of  the  law 
of  retribution  are  not  yet  fully  realized.  The  powerful 
protest  of  Job  was  necessary  against  the  belief  that 
suffering  and  innocence  were  incompatible ;  it  is  not 
that  disobedience  is  not  punished,  but  that  the  suffering 
which  is  punishment  in  one  case  may  be  discipline  in 
another,  or  more  particularly,  may  be  neither  of  these, 
but  man's  opportunity  to  witness  to  his  disinterested 
principles,  and  to  his  loyal  obedience  to  God.  The 
powerful  assertion  of  this  in  Job  testifies  indirectly  to 
the  power  of  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  whose  doctrine 
eventually  made  the  protest  necessary. 

III.    An  adequate    description    of   the    influence    of 


Introduction  49 

Deuteronomy  on  the  personal  religion  of  Israel  would 
become  a  history  of  the  people  under  this  special  aspect. 
But  some  points  in  particular  may  be  noted  in  which  the 
influence  of  the  book,  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  the 
Torah,  has  been  noteworthy.  The  briefest  reference  must 
be  made  to  the  Torah  school  and  the  Torah  instruction  of 
the  synagogue,  and  to  the  zeal  for  the  perfect  fulfilment  of 
the  Torah  which  finds  its  expression  in  Pharisaism.  More 
significant  for  our  present  purpose  is  that  recognition  of 
family  life,  and  insistence  on  religious  instruction  within 
the  family,  which  Deuteronomy  displays,  and  to  which 
Israel  as  a  whole  has  so  loyally  responded  (vi.  7,  cf.  20). 
The  reception  of  proselytes  was  a  feature  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  the  centuries  about  the  Christian  era  ;  how 
large  a  part  these  proselytes  played  in  the  extension  of 
Christianity  every  reader  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
knows.  Yet  this  welcoming  spirit  towards  those  without 
springs  largely  from  the  attitude  towards  strangers  so 
strongly  urged  in  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  ;  and  the 
monotheism  and  imageless  worship  of  the  Jews,  which 
centre  in  that  book,  constituted  the  chief  attraction  for 
many  of  the  proselytes  to  Judaism. 

In  characteristic  details  of  Jewish  religion  the  influ- 
ence of  Deuteronomy  is  very  clearly  shown.  The  pious 
Jew  of  Christ's  day  showed  his  piety  visibly  in  three 
ways — by  the  Zizith,  the  tassels  of  blue  or  white  wool 
worn  on  the  four  corners  of  the  upper  garment ;  by 
the  Mezuza,  the  little  box  fixed  to  the  right  doorpost  of 
houses  or  rooms,  which  contained  a  small  roll  inscribed 
with  certain  portions  of  Scripture ;  by  the  Tephiliin  or 
Phylacteries  worn  by  the  male  Israelite  on  arm  or  head  at 
morning  prayer'.  Each  of  these  observances  rests  on  a 
Deuteronomic  command  (xxii.  12;  vi.  9,  and  xi.  20;  vi. 
8,  and  xi.  18).     A  marked  feature  of  Jewish  piety,  as  every 


r  aks 


^  Schflrer,  Geschtchte  aks  judischen  Volkes  int  Zeitalter  Jesu 
Christi,  vol.  ii.  §  28.  iv.     {En^z.  Trans.,  div.  ii.  vol.  ii.  p.  iii  f.) 


50       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

one  will  have  noticed  who  has  watched  a  pious  Jew  at 
meal-time,  is  the  elaborate  thanksgiving ;  this  is  based 
upon  the  command,  '  And  thou  shalt  eat  and  be  full,  and 
thou  shalt  bless  Yahweh  thy  God  for  the  good  land 
which  He  hath  given  thee '  (viii.  lo).  The  daily  prayer  of 
Judaism,  its  confession  of  faith,  to  be  recited  morning  and 
evening  by  every  adult  male  Israelite,  is  made  up  of  the 
two  cardinal  passages  taken  from  Deuteronomy  (vi.  4-9 
and  xi.  13-21),  with  the  addition  of  a  third  from  Numbers 
(xv,  37-41)  (Schiirer,  vol.  ii.  §  27  ;  Taylor,  op.cit.^  Exc.  iv). 
It  was  this  prayer  that  Rabbi  'Aquiba  was  reciting  when  the 
executioners  were  combing  his  flesh  with  combs  of  iron : 
'  All  my  days  I  have  been  troubled  about  this  verse.  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  .  .  .  with  all  thy  soul,  even  if  He 
should  take  away  thy  spirit.  When,  said  I,  will  it  be  in  my 
power  to  fulfil  this  ?  Now  that  I  have  the  opportunity, 
shall  I  not  fulfil  it  ? '  So  he  dwelt  on  the  word  one  (God) 
till  he  expired  (Taylor,  op.  cit.y  p.  54).  There  is  the  Jewish 
religion  at  its  highest  and  its  lowest ;  its  literalism  and 
triviality  on  the  one  hand,  its  splendid  passion  of  self- 
devotion  on  the  other.  In  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy 
both  are  represented. 

The  influence  of  Deuteronomy  on  the  New  Testament, 
so  far  as  it  admits  of  being  traced,  is  as  great  as  we  might 
have  expected.  There  are  about  thirty  quotations,  made 
from  some  nineteen  passages,  but  the  less  direct  references 
are  at  least  eighty  (Swete,  Introduction  to  the  Old 
Testament  in  Greeks  p.  383 ;  Westcott  and  Hort,  New 
Testament,  App.).  Characteristic  use  of  Deuteronomy  is 
made  by  that  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  Paul ;  he  cites, 
for  example,  the  command  not  to  muzzle  the  ox  when 
treading  out  the  com,  as  proof  that  Christian  ministers 
may  be  paid  for  their  work  ( I  Cor.  ix.  9 :  cf.  Deut.  xxv. 
4) ;  he  extends  a  warning  about  Yahweh's  employment 
of  other  nations  to  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  into  the 
kingdom  (Rom.  x.  19  :  cf.  Deut.  xxxii.  21);  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  apply  the  eloquent  passage  about  the  nearness 


INTRODUCTION  Si 

of  the  Deuteronomic  commands  to  practical  life  to  the 
equal  practicability  of  the  new  word  of  the  Gospel :  *  The 
word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart :  that  is, 
the  word  of  faith  which  we  preach'  (Rom.  x.  6-8:  cf. 
Deut.  XXX.  12-14).  But  much  more  striking  and  interest- 
ing is  the  use  of  Deuteronomy  made  by  Jesus.  As  He 
drew  the  idea  of  His  ministry  from  the  passage  He  read 
in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth  (Isa.  Ixi :  cf.  Luke  iv.  16  f.), 
and  afterwards  used  in  His  reply  to  John's  inquiry 
(Matt.  xi.  4f.) ;  as  He  based  His  disregard  of  social  con- 
ventions in  mixing  with  publicans  on  that  prophetic  word, 
'  1  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice'  (Matt.  ix.  13  :  cf. 
Hos.  vi.  6) ;  and  as  He  uttered  both  the  depths  and  the 
heights  of  His  experience  on  the  Cross  in  two  words 
taken  from  the  Psalter  {'  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ? '  '  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit' :  Matt,  xxvii.  46  :  cf.  Ps.  xxii.  i  ;  Luke  xxiii.  46  : 
cf.  Ps.  xxxi.  5);  so  we  find  Him  drawing  spiritual  nourish- 
ment on  two  important  occasions  from  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy.  The  first  is  His  temptation  in  the  desert; 
we  cannot  but  be  impressed  by  the  fact  that  His  assertion 
of  a  higher  principle  than  self-satisfaction,  His  rebuke  of 
the  folly  that  would  presume  on  the  Divine  patience,  His 
refusal  to  serve  God  and  mammon,  are  all  expressed  in 
Deuteronomic  words  (Matt.  iv.  3  f.;  Luke  iv.  3  f, :  cf.  Deut. 
viii.  3,  vi.  16,  and  vi.  13).  How  much  He  must  have 
loved  this  book,  when  His  spiritual  struggle  finds  this 
natural  expression  in  its  language !  And  not  less  signifi- 
cant a  testimony  to  the  influence  of  Deuteronomy  is 
supplied  by  the  fact  that  He  summarizes  the  whole  of  the 
law  and  the  prophets  in  a  verse  taken  from  Deuteronomy, 
and  in  another  from  the  less  likely  book  of  Leviticus 
(Matt.  xxii.  37  ;  Mark  xii.  29  f. ;  Luke  x.  27  :  cp.  Deut. 
vi.  5).  We  must  add  to  these  two  primary  references 
those  others  in  which  He  bases  the  relations  of  members 
of  the  new  community  on  Deuteronomic  principles  of 
justice  ('  that  at  the  mouth  of  two  witnesses  or  three  every 
E  2 


52       THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

word  may  be  established' — Matt,  xviii.  i6:  cf.  Deut 
xix.  15),  and  that  He  extends  a  Deuteronomic  ideal  (xviii. 
13)  from  the  narrower  realm  of  the  avoidance  of  supersti- 
tion till  it  covers  the  whole  horizon  of  social  morality 
('  Ye  therefore  shall  be  perfect,  as  your  Heavenly  Father 
is  perfect ' :  Matt.  v.  48). 


NOTES  ON   LITERATURE 

The  commentaries  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  notes  to 
this  edition  are  those  by — 

Dillmann  (Numeri,  Deuteronomium,  und  Josua ',  Kurz.  Exeg. 
Handb.,  1886). 

Driver  (Deuteronomy,  International  Critical  Comnt.,  1895). 

Steuernagel  (Deuteronomium,  Hand-Komm.  z.  A.  T.,  1898). 

Bertholet  (Deuteronomium,  Kurz.  Hand-Comm.,  1899). 

The  English  reader  who  desires  fuller  notes  than  the  neces- 
sarily bare  and  dogmatic  statements  here  made  should  consult 
Driver  ;  as  an  introduction  to  the  book,  and  to  some  of  its 
principal  topics,  A.  Harper's  '  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy '  in 
The  Expositor's  Bible  may  be  mentioned.  The  article  on 
'Deuteronomy,*  by  Ryle,  in  Hastings's  Dictionary  0/ the  Bible 
(cited  as  D.  B.)  (i,  pp.  596-603),  is  largely  based  on  Driver  ; 
that  by  Moore,  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Biblica  (cited  as  E.  B.) 
(i.  c.  1079-94),  is  an  admirable  and  terse  statement  of  the 
contents  and  problems  of  the  book,  and  with  its  critical 
analysis  the  present  writer  is  in  general  agreement.  The 
subject-matter  of  Deuteronomy  is,  of  course,  discussed  in  all 
histories  of  Israel  or  introductions  to  the  O.  T.  ;  amongst 
these  may  be  named  in  particular  Stade's  Geschichte  des  Volkes 
Israel,  i.  pp.  641-71  (1889);  Wellhausen's  Israelitische  und 
Jiidische  Geschichte^,  1897  ;  Smend'' s  Alttestamentliche  Religions- 
geschichte*,  1899 ;  Stade's  Biblische  Theologie  des  Alten  Testa- 
ments (pp.  260-9),  ipoS*  The  critical  problems  in  connexion 
with  the  original  contents  of  the  Reformation  Law-book  are 
difficailt  and  complicated,  and  are  still  under  vigorous  dis- 
cussion. Atqongst  recent  literature  on  this  subject  may  be 
named  :->■ 


NOTES   ON    LITERATURE  53 

Cullen,  The  Book  of  the  Covenant  in  Moub,  1909  (reviewed 
by  the  writer  in  The  Critical  Review^  1904;  regards  Deut.  v-xi 
as  the  discovered  book,  to  which  the  laws  were  added  later, 
since  '  a  new  law-code  is  usually  not  the  instrument,  but  the 
outcome  of  a  successful  revolution  '). 

Fries,  Die  Gesetzesschrift  des  Konigs  Josia.i^s  (the  Law-book 
of  Josiah  seen  in  Exod.  xxxiv.  11-26,  not  in  Deuteronomy). 

Botticher,  Das  Verhdltnts  des  Deuterouomiums  zu  2  K6n.  xxii, 
xxiii,  und  sur  Prophetie  Jeremia,  1906.  (Accepts  chaps,  xii- 
xxvi,  xxviii  as  the  Josianic  Law-book,  and  gives  a  useful  survey 
of  the  present  state  of  Deuteronomic  criticism.) 

Klostermann,  Der  Pentateuch,  1907  {Das  deuteronomische 
Gesetsbuch,  pp.  154-428). 

SYMBOLS   AND  ABBREVIATIONS 

J.  The  narrative  by  TJudaean  ?)  writers  from  b.c.  850, 
using  the  name  Yahweh  (Jehovah,  R.  V.,  Lord). 

E.  The  narrative  by  Ephraimite  writers  from  b.  c.  750, 
using  the  name  Elohim  (God). 

JE.     The  *  prophetic '  narrative  of  the  Hexateuch,  resulting 
from  the  combination  of  J  and  E. 

P.  The  '  priestly '  narrative  and  legislation  (exilic  and  post- 
exilic). 

D.  The  original  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  discovered  in  b.  c. 
62X. 

D".     Pre-exilic  additions  to  D. 

D^.     Exilic  additions  to  D. 

R.  Additions  by  various  redactors  ;  sometimes  further  classi- 
fied by  a  raised  letter,  e.  g.  R^,  the  Deuteronomic 
redactor.  In  Deut.  xxxii,  xxxiii,  R  ?  denotes  the  use 
of  earlier  (unknown)  sources  by  the  redactor. 

Cook.     S.  A.   Cook,    The  Laws  of  Moses  and  the  Code  qf 
Hammurabi. 

D.B.     Hastings's  Dictionary  of  the  Bibie. 

E.B.     Encyclopaedia  Biblica. 

G.V.I.     Stade,  Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel. 

H.  G.  H.L.     G.  A .  Smith,  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land. 


54        THE   BOOK   OF   DEUTERONOMY 

L.O.T.      Driver,  Introduction    to    the  Literature  of  the   Old 
Testament. 

O.T.J.C.    W.  Robertson   Smith,   The  Old  Testament  in  the 
Jeunsh  Church^. 

Oxf.  Hex.     The  Hexateuch,  edited  by  J.  Estlin  Carpenter  and 
G.  Harford-Battersby. 

Rel.  Sem.     W.  Robertson  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites. 

S.B.O.T.     The  Sacred  Books  of  the  Old  Testament:  Leviticus 
(S.  R.  Driver  and  H.  A.  White)  ;  Joshua  (W.  H.  Bennett). 

Z.A.T,IV»     Zeitschrift fiir  die  alttestamentliche  Wissenschaff. 

(Where  Bertholet,  Dillmann,  Driver,  and  Steuernagel  are 
cited  without  further  specification,  the  reference  is  to  their 
commentaries  on  Deuteronomy  named  above. ) 


THE  LEGISLATIVE  CODES  OF  THE  O.  T. 

The  laws  of  the  O.  T.  fall  into  four  distinct  codes,  differing 
in  character  and  date,  though  now  editorially  combined  with- 
out regard  to  their  origin. 

i.  The  earliest  of  these,  found  in  connexion  with  the  pro- 
phetic narratives  of  the  Hexateuch  (JE),  is  known  as  the  Book 
of  the  Covenant  (Exod.  xx.  3 — xxiii.  19),  with  which  is  to  be 
grouped  the  Decalogue  (Exod.  xx.  2-17)  and  the  earlier 
Decalogue  underlying  Exod.  xxxiv.  10-26.  This  code  is  prior 
to  the  eighth  century  b.  c,  and  reflects  a  simple  society,  with 
agriculture  as  its  chief  interest. 

ii.  For  the  Deuteronomic  Code  of  the  seventh  century  b.  c. 
see  above,  pp.  23  f. 

iii.  A  special  code  of  exilic  origin,  closely  related  toEzekiel, 
and  found  in  Lev.  xvii-xxvi,  is  known  as  the  Law  of  Holiness  (H). 

iv.  The  Priestly  Code  (P),  post-exilic,  and  promulgated  in 
444  B.  c.  (Nch.  viii-x),  runs  through  the  Pentateuch,  especially 
Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Numbers,  and  is  concerned  almost 
entirely  with  the  regulation  of  worship. 

An  example  of  the  differences  and  development  in  these 
codes  will  be  found  on  p.  38  (footnote  on  '  Sacrifices '). 


THE  BOOK  OF  DEUTERONOMY 

REVISED   VERSION    WITH   ANNOTATIONS 


THE  BOOK  OF  DEUTERONOMY 

[D*]  These  be  the  words  which  Moses  spake  unto  all  1 

Israel  beyond  Jordan  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  »  Arabah 

over  against  ^  Suph,  between  Paran,  and  Tophel,  and 

Laban,  and  Hazeroth,  and  Di-zahab.     It  is  eleven  days'  2 

journey  from  Horeb  by  the  way  of  mount  Seir   unto 

Kadesh-barnea.     [P]  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  fortieth  3 

year,  in  the  eleventh  month,  on  the  first  day  of  the  month, 

that  Moses  spake  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  according 

unto  all  that  the  Lord  had  given  him  in  commandment 

unto  them ;  [D^]  after  he  had  smitten  Sihon  the  king  of  4 

the  Amorites,  which  dwelt  in  Heshbon,  and  Og  the  king 

of  Bashan,  which  dwelt  in  Ashtaroth,  at  Edrei :  beyond  5 

*  That  is,  the  deep  valley  running  North  and  South  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
^  Some  ancient  versions  have,  the  Red  Sea. 

i.  1-5.  Introductory  Note,  Geographical  and  Chronological,  to  the 
First  Address  of  Moses.  'All  Israel,'  in  the  characteristic  phrase 
of  Deuteronomy,  is  supposed  to  be  gathered  '  beyond  Jordan ' 
(i.  e.  east  of  it,  from  the  standpoint  of  a  writer  of  West  Palestine), 
in  the  place  to  which  previous  adventures  have  brought  the  nation 
(cf.  Num.  xxxiii.  49,  xxxvi.  13).  The  apparent  definition  of  this 
place,  however,  in  the  first  verse,  is  obscure  and  uncertain.  The 
names  given  are  unidentified  for  this  locality,  whilst  Suph,  Paran, 
and  Hazeroth  have  already  occurred  in  the  account  of  the  wander- 
ings of  Israel.  Probably,  therefore,  the  second  half  of  this  verse, 
with  verse  2,  is  the  misplaced  fragment  of  a  list  of  desert  halting- 
places. 

2.  Horeb  (D,  E)  =  Sinai  (J,  P) ;  different  names  for  the  same 
mountain. 

the  way  of  motuit  Seir,  i.  e.  of  the  Edomite  district,  east  of 
the  Arabah.  The  phrase  thus  designates  the  most  eastern  of  the 
three  main  roads  between  Sinai  and  the  south  of  Palestine. 

Kadesli-baniea  =  'Ain-Kadls,  fifty  miles  south  of  Beersheba. 

3.  The  chronological  note  (characteristic  of  P)  links  the  book 
with  the  scheme  of  the  previous  narrative  of  the  Pentateuch. 
It  is  continued  in  xxxii.  48. 

4.  Sihon,  &c.  :  see  Num.  xxi.  ai — xxii.  i  ;  also  notes  on  ii.  26  f. 


58  DEUTERONOMY    1.  6-8.     D^ 

Jordan,  in  the  land  of  Moab,  began  Moses  to  declare 

f^  this  law,  saying,  The  Lord  our  God  spake  unto  us  in 

Horeb,    saying,    Ye    have    dwelt   long   enough   in   this 

7  mountain :  turn  you,  and  take  your  journey,  and  go  to 
the  hill  country  of  the  Amorites,  and  unto  all  the  places 
nigh  thereunto,  in  the  Arabah,  in  the  hill  country,  and  in 
the  lowland,  and  in  the  South,  and  by  the  sea  shore,  the 
land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  Lebanon,  as  far  as  the  great 

8  river,  the  river  Euphrates.  Behold,  I  have  set  the  land 
before  you :  go  in  and  possess  the  land  which  the  Lord 

5.  besfan  ...  to  declare:  rather,  'undertook  to  expound' 
this  Deuteronomic  law  which  follows  (after  lengthy  introductions). 
The  word  for  'law  '  properly  means  'direction'  or  '  instruction,' 
which  more  general  sense  may  be  intended  here. 

i.  6 — iv.  40.   The  First  Address  of  Moses.     It  consists  of  a  histo- 
rical review  of  Israel's  adventures  since  leaving  Sinai  (i.  6 — iii.  29) 
nd  a  hortatory  peroration  (iv.  1-40),  part,  or  all,  of  which  appears 
to  be  a  later  addition.     The  statements  made  are  based,  some- 
times even  verbally,  on  J  E  in  Exodus  and  Numbers. 

i.  6-18.  Yahweh's  command  to  journey  from  Horeb  to  the 
Promised  Land  (verses  6-8).  Moses,  feeling  his  responsibility, 
asked  for  assistance  in  the  government  of  the  people,  to  which 
they  agreed  (verses  9-14).  Leading  men  were  accordingly 
appointed,  and  charged  by  Moses  to  observe  strict  impartiality  in 
judgement  (verses  15-18). 

6.  See  Exod.  xxxiii.  i. 

7.  In  this  description  of  the  Promised  Land,  the  hill-country 
of  the  Amorites  appears  to  describe  Palestine  generally  by  its 
principal  topographical  feature,  the  Central  Range  (cf.  verses  20 
and  44);  the  Arabah  (verse  i,  R.  V.  marg.)  here  refers  to  its 
northern  part,  now  El-Ghor,  the  Jordan  Valley  to  the  Dead  Sea  ; 
the  hill  country  is  the  special  term  for  the  mountains  of  Judah 
and  Ephraim  ;  the  lowland  (Shephelah),  the  lower  hills  and 
moorland  lying  between  the  Central  Range  and  the  Maritime 
Plain  ;  the  South  (Negeb)  is  the  dry  district  south  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Judah  ;  the  sea  shore,  or  plain  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  is  further  defined  by  the  land  of  the  Canaanites, 
i.  e.  Phoenicia,  cf.  Josh.  xiii.  4  ;  the  Lebanon  stands  broadly  for 
the  northern  territory,  whilst  the  Euphrates  is  given  as  the 
(ideal)  limit  of  a  territory  much  larger  than  Israel  ever  occupied 
(cf.  xi.  24). 


DEUTERONOMY   1.  9-16.     D^  59 

sware  unto  your  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to 
Jacob,  to  give  unto  them  and  to  their  seed  after  them.   And  9 
I  spake  unto  you  at  that  time,  saying,  I  am  not  able 
to  bear  you  myself  alone :    the  Lord  your  God  hath  10 
multiplied  you,  and,  behold,  ye  are  this  day  as  the  stars 
of  heaven  for  multitude.     The  Lord,  the  God  of  your  ^  i 
fathers,  make  you  a  thousand  times  so  many  more  as  ye 
are,  and  bless  you,  as  he  hath  promised  you  !     How  can  12 
I  myself  alone  bear  your  cumbrance,  and  your  burden, 
and  your  strife  ?     Take  you  wise  men,  and  understanding,  13 
and  known,  according  to  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make 
them  heads  over  you.     And  ye  answered  me,  and  said,  14 
The  thing  which  thou  hast  spoken  is  good  /or  us  to  do. 
So  I  took  the  heads  of  your  tribes,  wise  men,  and  known,  15 
and  made  them  heads  over  you,  captains  of  thousands, 
and  captains  of  hundreds,  and  captains  of  fifties,  and 
captains  of  tens,  and  officers,  according  to  your  tribes. 
And  I  charged  your  judges  at  that  time,  saying.  Hear  f/?e  iG 
causes  between   your   brethren,   and  judge   righteously 
between  a  man  and  his  brother,  and  the  stranger  that  is 

8.  For  the  promise  to  Abrabam,  cf.  Gen.  xii.  7,  xxii.  16.  &c. 
(for  the  comparison  of  his  seed  to  the  stars  in  number  (verse  to),  Gen. 
XV.  5,  xxii.  17) ;  Isaac,  Gen.  xxvi.  3  ;  Jacob,  Gen.  xxviii.  13. 

9.  I  spake  unto  yon  at  tliat  time  :  according  to  Exod.  xviii.  18, 
the  suggestion  was  due  to  Jethro  ;  according,  also,  to  the  present 
place  of  that  narrative,  the  incident  occurred  before  the  visit  to 
Horeb. 

15.  Exod.  xviii.  13  f.  (cf.  Num.  xi.  16  f.).  The  modern  parallel 
is  the  moral  authority  of  the  Bedouin  sheikh,  which  rests  ultimately 
on  the  pressure  of  the  family  on  its  members.  The  higher  Kadi 
will  correspond  to  Moses  here.  •  This  judicial  activity  of  the 
heads  of  tribes  and  clans  we  must,  of  course,  regard,  not  as  an  in- 
novation, but  as  an  ancient  usage  '  (E.B.  2718  :  '  Law  and  Justice '). 

16.  the  stranger  that  is  with  him:  Heb.  'his  ger,'  the 
settled  foreigner,  here  given  equal  rights  with  the  native  Israelite 
(x.  19,  xiv.  21,  xxiv.  17,  xxvii.  19).  'The  care  taken  by  Israelite 
law  to  protect  strangers  finds  no  parallel  in  Babylonia'  (S.  A.  Cook, 
The  Laws  of  Moses,  p.  276). 


6o  DEUTERONOMY    1.  ^7.22.     D« 

17  with  htm.  Ve  shall  not  respect  persons  in  judgement ; 
ye  shall  hear  the  small  and  the  great  alike ;  ye  shall  not  be 
afraid  of  the  face  of  man ;  for  the  judgement  is  God's : 
and  the  cause  that  is  too  hard  for  you  ye  shall  bring 

18  unto  me,  and  I  will  hear  it.  And  I  commanded  you  at 
that  time  all  the  things  which  ye  should  do. 

19  And  we  journeyed  from  Horeb,  and  went  through  all 
that  great  and  terrible  wilderness  which  ye  saw,  by  the 
way  to  the  hill  country  of  the  Amorites,  as  the  Lord  our 
God  commanded  us  ;  and  we  came  to  Kadesh-barnea. 

20  And  I  said  unto  you,  Ye  are  come  unto  the  hill  country 
of  the  Amorites,  which  the  Lord  our  God  giveth  unto 

2 1  us.  Behold,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  set  the  land  before 
thee :  go  up,  take  possession,  as  the  Lord,  the  God  of 
thy  fathers,  hath  spoken  linto  thee ;  fear  not,  neither  be 

22  dismayed.  And  ye  came  near  unto  me  every  one  of 
you,  and  said,  Let  us  send  men  before  us,  that  they  may 

17.  thejudgfement  is  God's  :  primarily  by  the  sacred  oracle  or 
lot  (note  on  Joshua  vii.  14)  ;  secondarily,  as  interpreted  by  suitable 
men  speaking  in  His  name. 

i.  19-46.  Israel,  arriving  at  Kadesh-barnea,  was  bidden  to  enter 
the  land  from  the  south  (verses  19-21).  The  report  of  the  spies, 
sent  at  the  desire  of  the  people  (verses  22-5),  discouraged  them 
(verses  26-8),  notwithstanding  the  exhortation  of  Moses  (verses 
29-31).  Their  cowardice  angered  Yahweh,  who  decreed  that 
Caleb  and  Joshua,  and  the  children  only  of  the  present  generation 
should  eventually  enter  (verses  32-40).  The  people,  however, 
persisted  in  making  the  attempt,  in  spite  of  the  Divine  warning 
(verses  41-3^  with  the  result  that  they  were  defeated  by  the 
Amorites  (verses  44-6). 

19.  that  great  and  terrible  wilderness:  (viii.  15)  the  barren 
limestone  plateau  (Et-Tih  :  see  the  geological  maps  in  E.B.^ 
1208-9)  between  the  peninsula  of  Sinai-Horeb  and  the  south  of 
Palestine.  From  its  most  southern  projection  into  the  peninsula 
to  Beersheba  the  distance  is  170  miles;  to  Kadesh-barnea  (of. 
verse  2)  somewhat  less. 

as.  According  to  Num.  xiii.  i  f.  (P),  these  spies  are  sent  at  the 
command  of  Yahweh. 


UEUTERONOMY    1.  23-28.     D^  61 

search  the  land  for  us,  and  bring  us  word  again  of  the 
way  by  which  we  must  go  up,  and  the  cities  unto  which 
we  shall  come.     And  the  thing  pleased  me  well :   and  23 
I  took  twelve  men  of  you,  one  man  for  every  tribe  :  and  24 
they  turned  and  went  up  into  the  mountain,  and  came 
unto  the  valley  of  Eshcol,  and  spied  it  out.     And  they  25 
took  of' the  fruit  of  the  land  in  their  hands,  and  brought 
it  down  unto  us,  and  brought  us  word  again,  and  said. 
It  is  a  good  land  which  the  Lord  our  God  giveth  unto 
us.     Yet  ye  would  not  go  up,  but  rebelled  against  the  26 
commandment  of  the  Lord  your  God :  and  ye  murmured  27 
in  your  tents,  and  said.  Because  the  Lord  hated  us,  he 
hath    brought   us   forth   out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,   to 
deliver  us  into  the  hand  of  the  Amorites,  to  destroy 
us.     Whither  are  we  going  up  ?  our  brethren  have  made  38 
our  heart  to  melt,  saying,  The  people  is  greater  and 


24.  the  valley  of  Eshcol :  an  explorer*s  name  (*  grape-cluster ') 
assigned  for  the  occasion  (Num.  xiii.  23,  24)  ;  not  otherwise  known 
or  identified,  but  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hebron  (Num.  xiii.  22). 
The  grape,  in  particular,  deserves  to  be  called  the  fruit  of  the 
land  (verse  25)  ;  the  vine  becomes  almost  the  national  emblem  of 
Israel  (i  Kings  iv.  25,  &c.  ;  Isa.  v.  2  ;  Jer.  ii.  21  ;  Ezek,  xv  ;  Matt, 
xxi.  33  f.  ;  John  xv.  i). 

25.  Cf.  Num.  xiii.  23,  where  the  spies  bring  back  grapes, 
pomegranates,  and  figs. 

27.  in  your  teuts,  as  being  unwilling  to  unite  for  common 
action.  For  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrase  *To  your  tents, 
O  Israel  ! '  see  note  on  Joshua  xxii.  4. 

28.  our  heart  to  melt.  What  is  to  us  a  figure  was  to  the 
primitive  Hebrew  the  literal  description  of  a  fact,  perhaps  suggested 
by  the  coagulation  of  blood  in  and  about  the  heart  of  a  slain  animal. 
Though  the  circulation  of  the  blood  was,  of  course,  unknown,  the 
quickened  heart-beat  of  fear  might  be  connected  with  the  'melting ' 
of  the  central  blood-organ.  The  phrase  occurs  in  xx.  8  ;  Joshua 
ii.  II,  v.  I,  vii.  5,  xiv.  8 ;  Ezek.  xxi,  7  ;  Nah.  ii.  10  ;  Isa.  xiii.  7, 
xix.  I.  In  Ps.  xxii.  14,  the  heart  is  compared  to  wax,  melting 
(and  running  down)  amongst  the  viscera.  Elsewhere  it  is  said 
to  become  soft  (Job  xxiii.  i6,  &c.). 


62  DEUTERONOiMV    1.  29-37.     D^ 

taller  than  we ;    the  cities  are  great  and  fenced  up  to 
heaven ;  and  moreover  we  have  seen  the  sons  of  the 

29  Anakim  there.    Then  I  said  unto  you,  Dread  not,  neither 

30  be  afraid  of  them.  The  Lord  your  God  who  goeth  before 
you,  he  shall  fight  for  you,  according  to  all  that  he  did 

31  for  you  in  Egypt  before  your  eyes ;  and  in  the  wilderness, 
where  thou  hast  seen  how  that  the  Lord  thy  God  bare 
thee,  as  a  man  doth  bear  his  son,  in  all  the  way  that  ye 

32  went,  until  ye  came  unto  this  place.     Yet  '^in  this  thing 

33  ye  did  not  believe  the  Lord  your  God,  who  went  before 
you  in  the  way,  to  seek  you  out  a  place  to  pitch  your 
tents  in,  in  fire  by  night,  to  shew  you  by  what  way  ye 

34  should  go,  and  in  the  cloud  by  day.  And  the  Lord 
heard  the  voice  of  your  words,  and  was  wroth,  and  sware, 

35  saying,  Surely  there  shall  not  one  of  these  men  of  this 
evil  generation  see  the  good  land,  which  I  sware  to  give 

36  unto  your  fathers,  save  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh,  he 
shall  see  it ;  and  to  him  will  I  give  the  land  that  he  hath 
trodden  upon,  and  to  his  children :    because  he  hath 

37  wholly  followed  the  Lord.  Also  the  Lord  was  angry 
with  me  for  your  sakes,  saying.  Thou  also  shalt  not  go  in 

*  Or,  for  all  this  thing 


perhaps  *  the  (long-)necked  people,'  or  giants ; 
Num.  xiii.  22,  28,  33  ;  Deut.  ii.  10,  11,  21,  ix.  2  ;  Joshua  xi.  21,  22, 
xiv.  12,  15,  XV.  13,  14,  xxi.  II  ;  Judges  i.  20.  This  race,  of 
colossal  stature  to  Hebrew  eyes,  was  specially  connected  with 
Hebron  and  its  vicinity. 

31.  bare  tliee  :  for  similar  expressions  of  the  warm  and  helpful 
attachment  of  Yahweh  to  His  people,  cf.  xxxii.  ii ;  Exod.  xix.  4  ; 
esp.  Hos.  xi.  3  ;  Isa.  xlvi.  3. 

32.  'Yet  notwithstanding  this  word  (of  mine)  ye  were  not 
trusting  Yahweh  your  God.' 

33.  See  Exod.  xiii.  21. 

36.  Caleto:  Num.  xiv.  24  (JE)  ;  xiv.  30  (P ;  with  Joshua). 
The  '  land  *  meant  is  that  of  Hebron  and  its  district  (cf.  Joshua 
xiv.  12-14). 

37.  an^ry  with  mo:  the  present  composite  narrative  in  Num. 


DEUTERONOMY    1.  38-42.     D^  63 

thither :  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  which  standeth  before  38 
thee,  he  shall  go  in  thither  :  encourage  thou  him  ;  for  he 
shall  cause   Israel  to  inherit  it.     Moreover   your    little  39 
ones,  which  ye  said  should  be  a  prey,  and  your  children, 
which  this  day  have  no  knowledge  of  good  or  evil,  they 
shall  go  in  thither,  and  unto  them  will  I  give  it,  and  they 
shall  possess  it.     But  as  for  you,  turn  you,  and  take  your  40 
journey  into  the  wilderness  by  the  way  to  the  Red  Sea. 
Then  ye  answered  and  said  unto  me,  We  have  sinned  41 
against  the  Lord^  we  will  go  up  and  fight,  according  to 
all  that  the  Lord  our  God  commanded  us.     And   ye 
girded  on  every  man  his  weapons  of  war,  and  ^were 
forward  to  go  up  into  the  mountain.     And  the    Lord  42 
said  unto  me,  Say  unto  them.  Go  not  up,  neither  fight ; 
for  I  am  not  among  you ;  lest  ye  be  smitten  before  your 

*  Or,  deemed  it  a  light  thing 

XX.  1-13  leaves  us  '  without  any  clear  idea  of  the  character  of  the 
sin.'  though  it  appears  to  be  *  an  act  of  open  rebellion,  rather  than 
of  simple  unbelief  (Gray,  Numbers,  pp.  258,  262).  Moreover, 
the  event  is  there  (cf.  Deut.  xxxii.  51)  assigned  to  the  closing 
period  of  Israel's  wanderings.  Here,  as  in  iii.  26,  iv.  21,  the 
reason  given  for  Yahweh's  anger  with  Moses  is  quite  different 
from  that  of  P  ;  the  anger  is  on  account  of  the  disobedience  of  the 
people  ('for  your  sakes').  The  event  is  thus  assigned  to  the 
opening  period  of  Israel's  wanderings.  The  two  forms  of  the 
tradition  refer  to  the  same  spot,  but  at  an  interval  of  thirty-seven 
years. 

38.  Joshua :  see  on  verse  36  and  Josh.  i.  i. 

which    standeth    before    thee :    i.  e.    as  an    attendant    or 
'minister'  (i  Kings  x.  8). 

39.  a  prey:  Num.  xiv.  3,  31.  The  guilty  generation  must  give 
place  to  the  innocent,  hence  the  conventional  '  forty '  years  of 
wandering  (cf.  ii.  14). 

40.  Bed  Sea :  Heb.  Yam  Suph  (sea  of  reeds  ?),  here  denoting 
the  Gulf  of  'Akabah  (Num.  xiv.  25  :  cf.  i  Kings  ix.  26). 

41.  The  emphasis  of  the  Hebrew  is  apt  to  be  lost  by  the 
English  reader.  The  second  *  we '  is  emphatic  ;  we,  not  our 
children,  will  enter. 

were  forward :  R.  V.  marg.  preferable. 


64  DEUTERONOMY    1.  43-2.  3.     D- 

43  enemies.  So  I  spake  unto  you,  and  ye  hearkened  not ; 
but  ye  rebelled  against  the  commandment  of  the  Lord, 
and  were  presumptuous,  and  went  up  into  the  mountain. 

44  And  the  Amorites,  which  dwelt  in  that  mountain,  came 
out  against  you,  and  chased  you,  as  bees  do,  and  beat 

45  you  down  in  Seir,  even  unto  Hormah.  And  ye  returned 
and  wept  before  the  Lord  ;  but  the  Lord  hearkened 

46  not  to  your  voice,  nor  gave  ear  unto  you.  So  ye  abode 
in  Kadesh  many  days,  according  unto  the  days  that  ye 
abode  there. 

2      Then   we    turned,    and    took   our  journey   into    the 

wilderness  by  the  way  to  the  Red  Sea,  as  the  Lord 

spake  unto  me :  and  we  compassed  mount  Seir  many 

I,  3  days.     And  the  Lord  spake  unto  me,  saying,  Ye  have 

compassed  this  mountain  long  enough :  turn  you  north- 

44.  Num.  xiv.  45.  For  the  figure  of  the  bees  (number  and 
ferocity)  see  Ps.  cxviii.  12  ;  Isa.  vii;  18 ;  perhaps  the  obscure 
reference  to  the  hornets  in  vii.  20  springs  from  a  misunderstood 
figure  of  the  same  kind. 

in  Seir,  even  unto  Hormah :  more  probably,  with  the  ancient 
versions,  '  from  Seir.'  In  Judges  i.  17,  Hormah  (*  the  banned  '  city) 
is  identified  with  Zephath,  and  Es-Sabaita,  twenty-five  miles 
north-east  of  Kadesh-barnea,  has  been  suggested  as  the  site. 

45.  Tears  follow  foolhardiness,  as  foolhardiness  does  timidity  ; 
the  psychology  of  Israel,  as  Bertholet  remarks,  is  that  of  a  child. 

46.  many  days  (the  following  v^rords  express  idiomatically  an  in- 
definite period ;  cf.  xxix.  i6 ;  2  Kings  viii.  i  ;  Zech.  x.  8,  and 
the  similar  Arabic  idiom).  Cf.  ii.  r,  of  which  verse  the '  many 
days'  are  subsequently  defined  (verse  14)  as  thirty-eight  years  ; 
here  they  cannot  mean  more  than  a  few  months.     See  on  ii.  14. 

ii.  1-8*.  Israel,  leaving  Kadesh-barnea,  wandered  for  many 
years  in  the  south  of  Palestine.  Finally,  Yahweh  bade  them  turn 
northward  again  and  pass  peaceably  by  £,dom,  , which  they 
accordingly  did. 

1.  we  compassed  monnt  Seir:  i.e.  Edom  (1.  a)  :  cf.  Num. 
xxi.  4.  In  their  aimless  wanderings  on  the  borders  of  Edom 
almost  thirty-eight  j'ears  are  supposed  to  be  spent  (verses  7 
and  14). 

3.  northward :  <  The  Israelites  must  be  imagined  by  this  time 


DEUTERONOMY   2.  4-8.     D^  65 

ward.     And  command  thou  the  people,  saying,  Ye  are  4 
to  pass  through  the  border  of  your  bretliren  the  children 
of  Esau,  which  dwell  in  Seir;  and  they  shall  be  afraid  of 
you :    take   ye   good   heed   unto   yourselves   therefore : 
contend  not  with  them  ;  for  I  will  not  give  you  of  their  5 
land,  no,  not  so  much  as  for  the  sole  of  the  foot  to  tread 
on  :   because  I  have  given  mount  Seir  unto  Esau  for 
a  possession.    Ye  shall  purchase  food  of  them  for  money,  6 
that  ye  may  eat ;  and  ye  shall  also  buy  water  of  them  for 
money,  that  ye  may  drink.     For  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  7 
blessed  thee  in  all  the  work  of  thy  hand  :  he  hath  known      / 
thy  walking  through  this  great  wilderness :   these  forty  v 
years  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  been  with  thee ;  thou  hast 
lacked  nothing.     So  we  passed  by  from  our  brethren  the  8 
children  of  Esau,  which  dwell  in  Seir^  from  the  way  of 
the  Arabah  from  Elath  and  from  Ezion-geber. 

to  have  made  their  way  along  the  south-west  and  south  border  of 
Edom,  as  far  as  the  south-east  end  of  the  'Arabah,  so  that  a  turn 
northwards  would  at  once  lead  them  along  the  east  border  of 
Edom  in  the  direction  of  Moab '  (Driver,  p.  34). 

4.  your  brethren :  as  in  the  traditional  story  of  the  relationship 
of  Jacob  to  Esau,  '  the  father  of  the  Edomites '  (Gen.  xxxvi.  43). 
Israel  appears  to  have  been  later  in  settlement  than  its  Edomite 
kin  (cf.  verse  12,  and  Gray,  op.  cit.,  p.  268).  Friendly  relations  with 
Edom  are  enjoined  in  xxiii.  7,  but  were  broken  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  in  586. 

pass  throng-h  :  i.  e.  some  part  of  Edom's  eastern  territory  ; 
the  narrative  is  thus  formally  distinct  from  that  of  Num.  xx.  14-21, 
where,  at  an  earlier  point  of  time,  permission  to  pass  through 
Edom  from  Kadesh,  on  the  west,  is  refused. 

6.  buy  water:  a  valuable  possession  in  such  districts  :  see  note 
on  Josh.  XV.  19. 

7  gives  the  reason  for  Israel's  proud  independence  of  Edom. 

8.  passed  by  from:  we  should  probably  read  (cf.  LXX) 
'  passed  through  '  (cf.  verse  29) ;  the  present  text  may  be  due  to 
the  influence  of  Num.  xx.  21  (Bertholet).  Otherwise  we  must 
explain  as  'from  the  neighbourhood  of,'  which  the  Hebrew  allows, 
the  way  of  the  Arabah,  &c.  Ezion-geber  must  have  been  near 
to   Elath,  the  modern  'Akabah,  at  the  north  end  of  the   gulf  of 


66  DEUTERONOMY   2.  9-1 1.     D^ 

And  we  turned  and  passed  by  the  way  of  the  wilder- 

9  ness  of  Moab.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Vex  not 

Moab,  neither  contend  with  them  in  battle :  for  I  will 

not  give  thee  of  his  land  for  a  possession ;  because  I 

have  given  Ar  unto  the  children  of  Lot  for  a  possession. 

10  (The  Emim  dwelt  therein  aforetime,  a  people  great,  and 

1 1  many,  and  tall,  as  the  Anakim  :  these  also  are  accounted 
a  Rephaim,  as  the  Anakim  ;  but  the  Moabites  call  them 

*  See  Gen.  xiv,  5. 

that  name.  From  here  Israel  passes  N.NE.  towards  Moab,  leaving 
the  road  through  the  'Arabah  on  their  left. 

ii.  S^'-is.  Israel  was  forbidden  to  attack  Moab  (verses  8^,  9).  An 
archaeological  note  on  the  ancient  inhabitants  (verses  10-12). 
Reason  for  the  length  of  Israel's  wanderings  (verses  13-15). 

8**.  the  wilderness  of  Moab:  the  uncultivated  pasture-land 
east  of  the  territory  of  Moab,  the  latter  being  at  its  full  extent  a 
district  about  sixty  miles  long  by  thirty  broad,  east  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  whose  length  is  about  fifty  miles. 

9.  Vex  not :  rather,  *  do  not  treat  as  a  foe  '  ;  so  verse  19. 

Ar  (cf.  verse  18),  named  in  two  fragments  of  ancient  poetry 
(Num.  xxi.  15,  28),  is  the  same  place  as  '  the  City  of  Moab ' 
(Num.  xxii.  36),  at  the  east  end  of  one  of  the  Arnon  valleys,  but 
the  exact  site  of  this  capital  of  Moab  is  unknown. 

the  children  of  lot:  (Ps.  Ixxxiii,  8)  as  is  stated  of  the 
Moabites  in  Gen.  xix.  37.  The  relationship  with  Israel,  though 
less  direct  than  in  the  case  of  Edom  (verse  4),  is  sufficient  to 
prevent  attack. 

10.  The  three  verses  (10-12)  bracketed  by  R.V.  are  clearly  an 
editorial  note  in  regard  to  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  the  territories 
of  Moab  (verses  10,  11)  and  Esau  (verse  12).  The  conception  of 
aborigines  as  giants  is  familiar  to  anthropology  (cf.  Tylor,  Primi- 
tive Culture,  i.  387). 

Emim :  Gen.  xiv.  5,  where  they  are  defeated  by  Chedorla- 
omer  at  Kiriathaim,  north  of  the  Arnon.  The  name  =  '  terrors.' 
They  are  compared  with  the  more  familiar  Anakim  (i.  28),  and, 
like  them,  are  included  in  the  general  class  known  ^s 

11.  Bephaim:  these  are  frequently  named  (e.  g.  Joshua  xii.  4, 
xiii.  12,  xvii.  15),  Og  of  Bashan  being  their  last  survivor  (iii.  11). 
Etymology  most  naturally,  perhaps,  connects  them  with  *  shades  ' 
or  ghosts  ;  Stade,  who  takes  this  view  {G.V.I. ,  i.  420)  refers  to 
Tylor,  ii.  114,  in  support  of  it :  '  In  Madagascar,  the  worship  of  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  is  remarkably  associated  with  the  Vazimbas, 
the  aborigines  of  the  island.' 


DEUTERONOMY   2.   12-19.     D^  67 

Emim.     The  Horites  also  dwelt  in  Seir  aforetime,  but  12 
the  children  of  Esau  succeeded  them  ;  and  they  destroyed 
them  from  before  them,  and  dwelt  in  their  stead;   as 
Israel  did  unto  the  land  of  his  possession,  which  the 
Lord  gave  unto  them.)     Now  rise  up,  and  get  you  over  13 
the  brook  Zered.     And  we  went  over  the  brook  Zered. 
And  thejiays  Jn  which  we  came  from  Kadesh-barnea,  14 
until  we  were  come'  over  the  brook  Zered,  were  thirty 
and  eight  years  j   until  all  the  generation  of  the  men 
of  war   were  consumed  from  the  midst  of  the   camp, 
as  the  Lord  sware  unto  them.     Moreover  the  hand  of  15 
the  Lord  was  against  them,  to  destroy  them  from  the 
midst  of  the  camp,  until  they  were  consumed. 

So  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  men  of  war  were  16 
consumed  and  dead  from  among  the  people,  that  the  17 
Lord  spake  unto  me,  saying,  Thou  art  this  day  to  pass  18 
over  Ar,  the  border  of  Moab :  and  when  thou  comest  19 
nigh  over  against  the  children  of  Ammon,  vex  them  not, 
nor  contend  with  them :  for  I  will  not  give  thee  of  the 
land  of  the  children  of  Ammon  for  a  possession  :  because 

12.  Horites:  supposed  to  mean  'cave-dwellers,'  for  whom 
Edom  makes  abundant  provision  :  cf.  Gen.  xiv.  6.  xxxvi.  20  f. 

as  Israel  did,  in  what,  to  the  annotator,  was  the  dim  past,  but 
in  the  address  of  Moses  is  still  future. 

13.  tlie  brook  Zered:  probably  the  Wady  Kerak,  running 
into  the  north  bay  of  the  Dead  Sea  formed  by  the  peninsula 
El  Lissan. 

14.  The  tradition  expressed  in  this  verse  is  to  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  earlier  narratives,  '  According  to  JE  the  thirty- 
eight  years  in  the  wilderness  were  spent  at  Kadesh  ;  according  to 
Deuteronomy,  they  were  spent  away  from  Kadesh  (ii.  14),  in 
wandering  about  Edom'  (ii.  i)  (Driver,  p.  33). 

ii.  16-25.  Ammon  not  to  be  attacked  (verses  16-19).  An 
archaeological  note  on  the  ancient  inhabitants  (verses  20-3). 
Israel  is  to  attack  and  dispossess  the  Amorites  (verses  24,  25), 

19.  Anunoxx,  also   descended   from   lot   (Gen.   xix.  38)  :    cf. 

F    2 


68  DEUTERONOMY   2.   20-25.     D^ 

I  have  given  it  unto  the  children  of  Lot  for  a  possession. 
20  (That  also  is  accounted  a  land  of  Rephaim  :  Rephaim 

dwelt  therein  aforetime;  but  the  Ammonites  call  them 
2  r  Zamzummim  ;  a  people  great,  and  many,  and  tall,  as  the 

Anakim ;   but  the  Lord  destroyed  them  before  them ; 

22  and  they  succeeded  them,  and  dwelt  in  their  stead:  as 
he  did  for  the  children  of  Esau,  which  dwell  in  Seir, 
when  he  destroyed  the  Horites  from  before  them;  and 
they  succeeded  them,  and  dwelt  in  their  stead  even  unto 

23  this  day :  and  the  Avvim  which  dwelt  in  villages  as  far 
as  Gaza,  the  Caphtorim,  which  came  forth  out  of 
Caphtor,   destroyed   them,    and   dwelt   in   their   stead.) 

24  Rise  ye  up,  take  your  journey,  and  pass  over  the  valley 
of  Arnon :  behold,  I  have  given  into  thine  hand  Sihon 
the  Amorite,  king  of  Heshbon,  and  his  land :  begin  to 

25  possess  it,  and  contend  with  him  in  battle.  This  day 
will  I  begin  to  put  the  dread  of  thee  and  the  fear  of  thee 
upon  the  peoples  that  are  under  the  whole  heaven,  who 
shall  hear  the  report  of  thee,  and  shall  tremble,  and  be 
in  anguish  because  of  thee. 

Judges  xi.  13,  22.  The  true  territory  of  Ammon  lay  in  the  district 
drained  by  the  upper  Jabbok,  with  Rabbath  Ammon  as  its  centre 
(cf.  verse  37  ;  Num.  xxi.  24,  with  Gray's  note). 

20.  Zamzummim :  perhaps  the  same  as  the  Zuzim  of  Gen. 
xiv.  5  ;  the  name  'whisperers,'  Schwally,  W.  R.  Smith)  appears 
to  be  connected  with  the  same  class  of  ideas  as  that  noticed  under 
Rephaim  (verse  ir). 

23.  Awim :  Joshua  xiii.  3,  where  they  are  named  with  the 
Philistines.  Here  it  is  said  that  the  Philistines  (who  came  from 
Caphtor,  Amos  ix.  7,  probably  Crete)  dispossessed  the  original 
inhabitants  called  Avvim  ;  a  parallel  to  the  previous  cases  of  dis- 
possession. 

24.  the  valley  of  Arnon :  running  from  west  to  east  through 
the  centre  of  the  original  territory  of  Moab.  The  Moabites  had, 
however,  been  driven  south  of  the  Arnon  by  Sihon  (Num.  xxi. 
26).  Consequently,  by  crossing  this  Wady,  Israel  passed  into 
Amorite  territory,  and  was  no  longer  hindered  from  attack  by  the 
ties  of  blood  existent  in  the  case  of  Edom,  Moab,  and  Ammon. 


DEUTERONOMY   2.  26-3?..     D^  69 

And    I   sent   messengers    out    of   the   wilderness   of  36 
Kedemoth  unto  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon  with  words  of 
peace,  saying,  Let  me  pass  through  thy  land :  I  will  go  27 
^  along  by  the  high  way,  I  will  neither  turn  unto  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left.    Thou  shalt  sell  me  food  for  money,  28 
that  I  may  eat ;  and  give  me  water  for  money,  that  I 
may  drink :  only  let  me  pass  through  on  my  feet ;  as  the  29 
children  of  Esau  which  dwell  in  Seir,  and  the  Moabites 
which  dwell  in  Ar,  did  unto  me ;  until  I  shall  pass  over 
Jordan  into  the  land  which  the  Lord  our  God  giveth  us. 
But  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon  would  not  let  us  pass  by  30 
him  :   for  the  Lord  thy  God  hardened  his  spirit,  and 
made  his  heart  ^  obstinate,  that  he  might  deliver  him  into 
thy  hand,  as  at  this  day.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  31 
Behold,  I  have  begun  to  deliver  up  Sihon  and  his  land 
before  thee :  begin  to  possess,  that  thou  mayest  inherit 
his  land.     Then  Sihon  came  out  against  us^  he  and  all  32 
his  people,  unto  battle  at  Jahaz.     And  the  Lord  our  33 

^  Heb.  by  the  way,  by  the  way.  ^  Heb.  strong. 


ii.  26-37.  Israel  sought  to  pass  through  Amorite  territorj',  but 
was  refused  by  Sihon  (verses  26-31),  who  was,  however,  defeated 
and  his  land  completely  occupied  (verses  32-37).  Cf.  Num. 
xxi.  21  f. 

26.  Kedemoth  in  the  subsequent  territory  of  Reuben  (Joshua 
xiii.  18),  but  site  unknown. 

Heshbon,  sixteen  miles  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  mouth  of  the 
Jordan. 

29.  Esau:  cf.  verse  8 ;  Moabites:  see  on  xxiii.  4. 

30.  spirit  {ruach),  originally  of  (abnormal)  energy  and  faculty 
imparted  from  without;  subsequently  of  (normal)  psychical  activity, 
especially  on  its  higher  and  more  intellectual  side. 

heaxt :  not  only  the  physiological  but  also  the  psychical  cen- 
tre, to  which  all  activities  of  thought  and  feeling  can  be  ascribed. 

as  at  this  day  (i.  e.  has  taken  place). 
32.  Jahaz  :  one  of  the  cities  afterwards  taken  by  Mesha  from 
Israel,    and    in    the    neighbourhood   of    Dibon    (Moabite    Stone, 
II.   19-21).     The  site  is  unknown,  but   it  must  have  been  in  the 
south-east  corner  of  Sihon's  territory   cf.  H.G.H  L.  559). 


70  DEUTERONOMY   2.  34-8.  2.     D'' 

God  delivered  him  up  before  us;   and  we  smote  him, 

34  and  his  ^  sons,  and  all  his  people.  And  we  took  all  his 
cities  at  that  time,  and  ^  utterly  destroyed  every  ^inhabited 
city,  with  the  women  and  the  little  ones;  we  left  none 

35  remaining :  only  the  cattle  we  took  for  a  prey  unto 
ourselves,    with   the   spoil  of  the  cities  which  we   had 

36  taken.  From  Aroer,  which  is  on  the  edge  of  the  valley 
of  Arnon,  and  from  the  city  that  is  in  the  valley,  even 
unto  Gilead,  there  was  not  a  city  too  high  for  us  :   the 

37  Lord  our  God  delivered  up  all  before  us  :  only  to  the 
land  of  the  children  of  Ammon  thou  camest  not  near ; 
all  the  side  of  the  river  Jabbok,  and  the  cities  of  the  hill 
country,  and  wheresoever  the  Lord  our  God  forbad  us. 

3  Then  we  turned,  and  went  up  the  way  to  Bashan  : 
and  Og  the  king  of  Bashan  came  out  against  us,  he  and 

2  all  his  people,  unto  battle  at  Edrei.  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  me,  Fear  him  not :  for  I  have  delivered  him,  and 
all  his  people,  and  his  land,  into  thy  hand;  and  thou 
*  Or,  son  ^  Heb.  devoted.  *^  Heb.  city  of  men. 

34.  utterly  destroyed  :  see  note  on  xx.  17,  and  read  '  devoted ' 
in  every  case. 

36.  Aroer :  one  mile  north  of  the  Arnon  ;  the  unnamed  city 
(Joshua  xiii.  9,  16)  may  be  Ar,  mentioned  in  ii.  9  ;  Gilead  may 
here  include  the  half  of  it  south  of  the  Jabbok,  or  refer  to  the 
northern  half ;  in  any  case,  Sihon's  north  boundary  is  the  Jabbok 
itself  (Num.  xxi.  24  ;  Joshua  xii.  2). 

37.  See  on  verse  19. 

iii.  1-7.     Og  of  Bashan  defeated,  and  his  territory  taken. 

1-3.  Cf.  Num.  xxi.  33-5,  an  insertion  from  the  present  passage. 

1.  Bashan:  the  wide  district  in  the  north-east,  with  the  Yarmuk, 
Edrei,  and  Salecah  (verse  10)  marking  its  south  boundary,  and 
having  the  mountains  of  Hauran  and  Hermon  on  its  east  and 
north,  and  Geshur  and  Ma'acah  (Joshua  xii.  5,  xiii.  11)  (now 
the  Jaulan)  on  its  west.  The  name  (with  the  Hebrew  articlci 
probably  denotes  the  '  fertile'  region. 

at  Hebrew  'to'  Edrei  (i.  4)  on  the  south  boundary,  and 
a  principal  city  inverse  lO;  ;  about  thirty-three  miles  east  of  the 
south  end  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 


DEUTERONOMY   3.  3-11.     D'  71 

shalt  do  unto  him  as  thou  didst  unto  Sihon  king  of  the 
Amorites,  which  dwelt  at  Heshbon.     So  the  Lord  our  3 
God  deHvered  into  our  hand  Og  also,  the  king  of  Bashan, 
and  all  his  people :  and  we  smote  him  until  none  was 
left  to  him  remaining.     And  we  took  all  his  cities  at  that  4 
time  ;  there  was  not  a  city  which  we  took  not  from  them  ; 
threescore  cities,  all  the  region  of  Argob,  the  kingdom  of 
Og  in  Bashan.     All  these  were  cities  fenced  with  high  5 
walls,  gates,  and  bars ;  beside  the  *  unwalled  towns  a  great 
many.     And  we  utterly  destroyed  them,  as  we  did  unto  6 
Sihon  king  of  Heshbon,  utterly  destroying  every  inhabited 
city,  with  the  women  and  the  little  ones.     But  all  the  7 
cattle,  and  the  spoil  of  the  cities,  we  took  for  a  prey 
unto  ourselves.     And  we  took  the  land  at  that  time  out  8 
of  the  hand  of  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites  that  were 
beyond  Jordan,  from  the  valley  of  Arnon  unto  mount 
Hermon ;  {which  Hermon  the  Sidonians  call  Sirion,  and  9 
the  Amorites  call  it  Senir ;)  all  the  cities  of  the  ^  plain,  10 
and  all  Gilead,  and  all  Bashan,  unto  Salecah  and  Edrei, 
cities  of  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.     (For  only  Og  " 
king  of  Bashan  remained  of  the  remnant  of  the  Rephaim ; 
*  Or,  country  towns  ^  Or,  table  land 

4.  Argob,  a  section  of  Bashan.  not  now  known  (see  verse  14)  : 
H.G.H.L.  551. 

iii.  8-17.  The  territory  acquired  east  of  Jordan  was  now  al- 
lotted to  Reuben,  Gad,  and  half-Manasseh.  Archaeological  notes 
(verses  9,  11). 

9.  A  later  note  giving  two  synonyms  of  Hermon.  Sirion  (Fs.  xxix. 
6),  Senir  (Ezek.  xxvii.  5  ;  Song  of  Sol,  iv.  8  ;  i  Chron.  v.  23),  and 
Sion  (iv.  48)  may  originally  be  names  of  different  parts  of  Hermon. 

10.  the  plain  :  the  table-land  (R.  V.  marg.)  north  of  the  Arnon 
(cf.  iv.  43  ;  Joshua  xiii.  9) ;  Oilead  here  covers  the  territory  south 
and  north  of  the  Jabbok  (see  note  on  Joshua  xxii.  9) ;  Bashan 
(defined  by  two  cities  on  its  south  border)  completes  the  survey 
of  territory  east  of  the  Jordan. 

Salecah   (Salchad),  thirteen  miles  east  of  Bosrah,  south  of 
the  Jebel  Hauran. 


72  DEUTERONOMY   3.   12-14.     D^  R 

behold,  his  bedstead  was  a  bedstead  of  iron ;  is  it  not 
in  Rabbah  of  the  children  of  Amnion  ?  nine  cubits  was 
the  length  thereof,  and  four  cubits  the  breadth  of  it, 

12  after  the  cubit  of  a  man.)  And  this  land  we  took  in 
possession  at  that  time :  from  Aroer,  which  is  by  the 
valley  of  Arnon,  and  half  the  hill  country  of  Gilead^  and 
the  cities  thereof,  gave  I  unto  the  Reubenites  and  to  the 

i3Gadites:  and  the  rest  of  Gilead,  and  all  Bashan,  the 
kingdom  of  Og,  gave  I  unto  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh ; 
"  all  the  region  of  Argob,  ^  even  all  Bashan.    (The  same 

14  is  called  the  land   of  Rephaim.     [R]  fair  the  son  of 

Manasseh  took  all  the  region  of  Argob,  unto  the  border 

of  the  Geshurites  and  the  Maacathites  ;  and  called  them, 

even  Bashan,  ^  after  his  own  name,  Havvoth-jair,  unto 

*  Or,  all  the  region  of  Argob.     {AH  that  Bashan  is  called,  tfc. 
^  Or,  with  ^  See  Num.  xxxii.  41. 

11.  a  bedstead  of  iron  :  a  sarcophagus  of  black  basalt  (of  which 
large  numbers  are  found  in  this  district)  is  probably  meant.  The 
cubit  of  a  man,  or  ordinary  cubit  (a  phrase  like  Isaiah's  '  pen  of  a 
man,'  viii.  i),  was  probably  one  or  other  of  the  Egyptian  cubits  of 
20.67  and  17-72  inches  ;  so  that  the  supposed  tomb  of  Og  in  Rabbath- 
Ammon  (see  on  ii.  19)  would  be  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  feet  long, 
and  from  six  to  seven  feet  broad.     For  the  Kephaim,  see  on  ii.  11. 

12.  The  country  between  the  Arnon  and  the  Jabbok  was  divided 
between  Reuben  and  Gad,  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh  receiving 
the  country  north  of  the  Jabbok  (verse  13).  Read  with  R.V.  marg.. 
at  end  of  verse  13. 

14.  An  insertion  based  on  Num.  xxxii.  41  :  cf.  i  Kings  iv.  13. 
Here,  however,  these  *  tent-villages "  of  Jair  are  wrongly  placed 
in  Bashan,  as  in  the  dependent  passage,  Joshua  xiii.  30 ;  the 
order  of  the  Hebrew  shows  '■  even  Bashan  '  to  be  interpolated  in 
the  statement  from  Num.  xxxii.  41.     Cf.  H.G.H.L.  551. 

Jair  :  i  Chron.  ii.  22,  where  tvventj'-three  cities  are  assigned 
to  him  in  Gilead.  Another  tradition  places  him  in  the  age  of  the 
Judges  (Judges  x.  4),  with  thirty  cities. 

the  Geshurites  and  the  Maacathites :  Geshur,  east  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  and  Ma'acali,  east  of  Lake  Huleh  ;  both  in  the 
Jaulan  district,  and  still  independent  in  David's  time  (2  Sam.  iii. 
3,  X.  6). 


DEUTERONOMY   3.   15-21.     R  D^  73 

this  day.)  And  I  gave  Gilead  unto  Machir.  And  unto  15, 
the  Reubenites  and  unto  the  Gadites  I  gave  from  Gilead 
even  unto  the  valley  of  Arnon,  the  middle  of  the  valley, 
^  and  the  border  thereof;  even  unto  the  river  Jabbok, 
which  is  the  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon ;  the  1 7 
Arabah  also,  and  Jordan  and  the  border  thereof  from 
Chinnereth  even  unto  the  sea  of  the  Arabah,  the  Salt 
Sea,  under  the  ^  slopes  of  Pisgah  eastward. 

[D^]  And  I  commanded  you  at  that  time,  saying.  The  18 
Lord  your  God  hath  given  you  this  land  to  possess  it : 
ye   shall   pass    over    armed   before   your   brethren   the 
children   of  Israel,  all  the  men  of  valour.     But   your  19 
wives,  and  your  little  ones,  and  your  cattle,  (I  know  that 
ye  have  much  cattle,)  shall  abide  in  your  cities  which  I 
have   given   you ;   until  the  Lord  give  rest  unto  your  20 
brethren,  as  unto  you,  and  they  also  possess  the  land 
which  the  Lord  your  God  giveth  them  beyond  Jordan : 
then  shall  ye  return  every   man   unto   his   possession, 
which  I  have  given  you.     And  I  commanded  Joshua  21 
at  that  time,  saying.  Thine  eyes  have  seen  all  that  the 
Lord  your  God  hath  done  unto  these  two  kings :   so 

*  Or,  for  a  border  *  Or,  springs 

15-17.  A  doublet  to  verses  12,  13,  taken  from  Num.  xxxii  40, 
Joshua  xii.  2,  3. 

16.  and  the  border:  read  with  R.V.  marg.  (so  verse  17). 

17.  CMnnereth  :  see  on  Joshua  xi.  2  :  the  slopes  of  Pisfifah, 
or  '  cHffs  '  (see  on  Joshua  x.  40)  :  cf.  iii.  27,  xxxiv.  i. 

iii.  18-22.  Moses  had  pledged  the  warriors  of  the  settled  tribes 
to  aid  in  the  conquest  of  the  territory  west  of  Jordan  (verses  18-20), 
and  bidden  Joshua  take  courage  for  the  future  from  what  he  had 
seen  (verses  21,  22). 

18.  I  commanded  you :  Num.  xxxii.  28  f. 

19.  much  cattle :  (Num.  xxxii.  i)  '  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
pre-eminently  pastoral  (cf.  Judges  v.  16,  17*)  character  of  the 
tribes  which  remained  east  of  Jordan  must  have  been  the  result 
and  not  the  cause  of  their  settlement  in  this  district'  (Gray, 
Numbers,  p.  427),  which  is  proverbial  for  its  pasture. 


74  DEUTERONOMY    3.  22-29     D' 

shall  the  Lord  do  unto  all  the  kingdoms  whither  thou 
22  goest  over.     Ye  shall  not  fear  them  :  for  the  Lord  your 
God,  he  it  is  that  fighteth  for  you. 

24  And  I  besought  the  Lord  at  that  time,  saying,  O  Lord 
God,  thou  hast  begun  to  shew  thy  servant  thy  greatness, 
and  thy  strong  hand :  for  what  god  is  there  in  heaven  or 
in   earth,    that   can   do  according   to   thy    works,    and 

25  according  to  thy  mighty  acts  ?  Let  me  go  over,  I  pray 
thee,  and  see  the  good  land  that  is  beyond  Jordan,  that 

i6  goodly  mountain,  and  Lebanon.  But  the  Lord  was 
wroth  with  me  for  your  sakes,  and  hearkened  not  unto 
me :  and  the  Lord  said  unto  me.  Let  it  suffice  thee ; 

27  speak  no  more  unto  me  of  this  matter.  Get  thee  up 
into  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  lift  up  thine  eyes  westward, 
and  northward,  and  southward,  and  eastward,  and  behold 
with  thine  eyes :  for  thou  shalt  not  go  over  this  Jordan. 

28  But  charge  Joshua,  and  encourage  him,  and  strengthen 
him :  for  he  shall  go  over  before  this  people,  and  he 
shall  cause  them  to  inherit  the  land  which  thou  shalt  see. 

29  So  we  abode  in  the  valley  over  against  Beth-peor. 

iii.  23-29.  The  prayer  of  Moses  to  be  allowed  to  cross  the 
Jordan  (verses  23-5)  is  refused  by  Yahweh  (verse  26),  and  he 
is  bidden,  instead,  to  look  over  the  land  from  Pisgah  (verse  27), 
and  to  commit  the  future  to  Joshua  (verse  28).  Close  of  review 
(verse  29). 

24.  what  god  is  there  :  Exod.  xv.  11  (see  on  vi.  4).  Let  Yahweh 
finish  what  he  has  begun  (Phil.  i.  6). 

25.  that  eroodly  mountain  :  the  hill-country  west  of  Jordan. 

26.  was  wroth  (see  on  i.  37):  a  strong  word  =  ' overflowed 
with  rage.' 

27.  See  on  xxxiv.  i. 

28.  charge :  *  command '  him  (to  do  what  you  may  not).  The 
double  '  he  '  is  emphatic. 

29.  the  valley  over  against  Beth-peor — where  speaker  and 
hearers  are  supposed  to  be  standing.  The  word  for  '  valley '  de- 
notes a  glen  or  <  ravine,'  one  of  those  in  the  mountains  of  Abarim. 
Beth-peor  (iv.  46,  xxxiv.  6 :  Joshua  xiii.  20)  is  unknown  ;  a 
mountain  Peor  is  named,  Num.  xxiii.  28  :  cf.  Baal-Peor  in  iv.  3. 


DEUTERONOMY    4.   r.     D'  75 

[D^]  And  now,  O  Israel,  hearken  unto  the  statutes  4 
and  unto  the  judgements,  which  I  teach  you,  for  to  do 
them ;  that  ye  may  live,  and  go  in  and  possess  the  land 

iv.  1-40.  Hortatory  Conclusion  to  the  First  Address.  Exhortation 
to  strict  obedience  as  the  condition  of  prosperity  (verses  1-4). 
The  Divine  commands,  if  obeyed,  will  place  Israel  in  a  unique  and 
enviable  position  (verses  5-8).  Let  what  has  been  seen  be  remem- 
bered and  taught,  viz.  the  marvellous  events  at  Horeb,  when  the 
invisible  God  was  heard,  and  the  terms  of  His  covenant  revealed 
(verses  9-14).  The  invisibility  of  Yahweh  at  Horeb  ought  to 
warn  against  all  idolatry  (verses  15-18)  and  star-worship  (verse 
19).  Yahweh  claims  Israel  for  Himself  (verse  20).  He  was 
angry  with  Moses  on  account  of  Israel ;  let  Israel  beware  lest, 
through  idolatry,  His  jealous  wrath  be  incurred  (verses  21-4). 

Idolatry  will  be  followed  by  exile,  with  its  attendant  evils 
(verses  25-8).  Yet,  in  exile,  to  seek  Yahweh  earnestly  will  be 
to  find  Him  ;  and  he  will  remember  His  covenant  in  compassion 
(verses  29-31). 

The  uniqueness  of  the  events  at  Horeb  and  of  the  deliverance 
from  Egypt  (verses  32-6).  From  such  events  let  Israel  know 
the  uniqueness  of  Yahweh  Himself  (37-9).  Obedience  to  Him 
will  bring  prosperity  (verse  40). 

The  interpretation  of  chap,  iv  is,  for  the  most  part,  sufficiently  clear, 
but  its  critical  analysis  offers  difficult  problems,  and  there  is  much 
difference  of  opinion  amongst  scholars  in  regard  to  them.  The 
fact  that  exhortation  should  follow  a  historical  review  is  natural 
enough  :  but  it  may  fairly  be  asked  whether  the  former  does  not 
end  abruptly  (iii.  29)  without  adequate  transition  to  the  exhortation 
of  iv.  I  f.  Further,  if  chaps,  i-iii  and  iv.  1-40  originally  formed  a 
unity,  we  should  expect  the  peroration  to  make  some  use  of  the 
facts  already  reviewed  ;  yet,  whilst  chaps,  i-iii  deal  with  in- 
cidents subsequent  to  Horeb,  iv.  9-24  and  32-40  are  dominated 
by  the  thought  of  Horeb  itself  and  its  significance,  practically  no 
use  being  made  of  what  has  preceded.  In  regard  to  Horeb,  a 
marked  difference  of  statement  emerges.  In  iv.  10  f.,  32-5,  em- 
phasis is  laid  on  the  fact  that  those  now  addressed  actually  saw 
with  their  own  eyes  the  wonders  of  the  Divine  revelation  ;  in 
i.  35,  39 f.,  cf.  ii.  14,  15,  that  generation  is  represented  as  passing 
away  before  the  entrance  into  the  Promised  Land.  One  section 
of  this  chapter  (verses  25-31)  appears  to  presuppose  the  experiences 
of  exile.  In  view  of  these,  and  other  considerations,  it  seems 
probable  that  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole  of  this  chapter,  is 
an  exilic  expansion  of  Deuteronomic  truths. 

1.  statutes  and  . . .  judgements  :  as  often  in  this  book  :  so  far 
as  any  distinction  of  terms  is  to  be  emphasized  in  such  a  standing 


76  DEUTERONOMY   4.  2-9.     D' 

which  the  Lord,  the  God  of  your  fathers,  giveth  you. 

2  Ye  shall  not  add  unto  the  word  which  I  command  you, 
neither  shall  ye  diminish  from  it,  that  ye  may  keep  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God  which  I  command 

3  you.  Your  eyes  have  seen  what  the  Lord  did  because 
of  Baal-peor :  for  all  the  men  that  followed  Baal-peor, 
the  Lord  thy  God  halh  destroyed  them  from  the  midst 

4  of  thee.     But  ye  that  did  cleave  unto  the  Lord  your 

5  God  are  alive  every  one  of  you  this  day.  Behold,  I  have 
taught  you  statutes  and  judgements,  even  as  the  Lord 
my  God  commanded  me,  that  ye  should  do  so  in  the 

6  midst  of  the  land  whither  ye  go  in  to  possess  it.  Keep 
therefore  and  do  them  ;  for  this  is  your  wisdom  and  your 
understanding  in  the  sight  of  the  peoples,  which  shall 
hear  all  these  statutes,  and  say.  Surely  this  great  nation  is 

7  a  wise  and  understanding  people.  For  what  great  nation 
is  there,  that  hath  '^  a  god  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the  Lord 

8  our  God  is  whensoever  we  call  upon  him?  And  what 
great  nation  is  there,  that  hath  statutes  and  judgements 
so  righteous  as  all  this  law,  which  I  set  before  you  this 

9  day  ?  Only  take  heed  to  thyself,  and  keep  thy  soul 
diligently,  lest  thou  forget  the  things  which  thine  eyes 

*  Or,  God 

phrase,  the  'statute*  is  an  'engraved'  decree,  whilst  the  'judge- 
ment '  is  the  decision  of  a  judge  on  some  actual  case,  regarded  as 
a  precedent. 

2.  Cf.  Rev.  xxii.  18,  19.  Bertholet  points  out  that  the  idea  of 
a  canon  of  scripture  is  alread}'  given  in  these  words.  Hammurabi 
concludes  his  code  with  an  elaborate  curse  on  the  man  who  alters 
his  sentences  (see  Introd.,  p.  20). 

3.  because  of  Baal-peor :  more  probably,  in  the  place  called 
after  the  god,  '  Baal  of  Peor,'  lord  of  the  district  Peor  (see  on  iii. 
29\     Cf.  Num.  XXV.  1-5  ;  Hos.  ix.  10. 

*?.  a  god:  or'  gods.'  For  the  attitude  to  other  gods,  cf.  iii.  24. 
Israel's  religion  is  unique  by  its  ready  access  to  Yahweh  (verse  7), 
and  by  its  ethical  character  (verse  8). 


DEUTERONOMY    4.   to-m.     D^  77 

saw,  and  lest  they  depart  from  thy  heart  all  the  days  of 
thy   life ;    but   make   them    known    unto   thy   children 
and  thy  children's  children  ;  the  day  that  thou  stoodest  10 
before  the  Lord  thy  God  in  Horeb,  when  the  Lord  said 
unto  me,  Assemble  me  the  people,  and  I  will  make  them 
hear  my  words,  that  they  may  learn  to  fear  me  all  the 
days  that  they  live  upon  the  earth,  and  that  they  may 
teach   their   children.     And   ye  came   near   and   stood  n 
under  the  mountain ;  and  the  mountain  burned  with  fire 
unto  the  heart  of  heaven,  with  darkness,  cloud,  and  thick 
darkness.     And  the  Lord  spake  unto  you  out  of  the  12 
midst  of  the  fire :    ye  heard  the  voice  of  words,  but  ye 
saw  no  form ;  only  ye  heard  a  voice.     And  he  declared  13 
unto  you  his  covenant,  which  he  commanded  you  to  per- 
form, even  the  ten  »  commandments  ;  and  he  wrote  them 
upon  two  tables  of  stone.   And  the  Lord  commanded  14 

^  Heb.  words. 

9.  heart :  see  on  ii.  30  ;  here  the  seat  of  memory.  Soul  is 
simply  a  stronger  synonym  for  '  self  with  no  psychological 
reference  :  so  in  verse  15  R.  V.  (yourselves.  Note  the  emphasis, 
prominent  in  Deuteronomy,  on  the  duty  of  the  religious  teaching 
of  children.     They  belong  to  the  unity  of  the  nation  ('  thou,  thy '). 

10.  Horeb  :  Exod.  xix,  esp.  verse  9  f. 

11.  Exod.  xix.  17  f. 

12.  An  argument  against  idolatry,  on  the  ground  that  He  who 
was  heard  at  Horeb  was  not  seen. 

13.  covenant:  (cf.  Josh.  xxiv.  25)  properly  an  agreement  of 
any  kind,  like  that  between  Abraham  and  Abimelech  (Gen.  xxi.  32) 
or  between  Syria  and  Israel  (i  Kings  xx.  34).  The  agreement 
between  David  and  Jonathan,  first  apparently  of  *  brotherhood ' 
(i  Sam.  xviii.  3),  and  then  that  David  should  be  the  future  king, 
and  Jonathan  the  chief  minister  (xxiii.  17,  18),  was  made  'before 
Yahweh '  (xxiii.  18:  cf.  xx.  8),  i.e.  under  the  solemn  sanctions  of 
religion.  The  idea  of  an  agreement  between  man  and  man  was 
extended  to  that  of  one  between  man  and  God  in  the  covenant  of 
Sinai  (Exod.  xix.  5)  confirmed  by  the  slaughter  of  victims 
(Exod.  xxiv.  8:  cf.  Gen.  xv.  gf.).  This  idea  is  prominent  in 
Deuteronomy  and  dependent  writers.  The  terms  of  the  agree- 
ment made  at  Sinai  (Exod.  xxiv.  7,  8,  xxxiv.  to,  27).  as  binding  on 
Israel,  are  stated  in  the  ten  commandments,  or  'words.'  so  that 


78  DEUTERONOMY    4.   15-19.     D' 

me  at  that  time  to  teach  you  statutes  and  judgements, 
that  ye  might  do  them  in  the  land  whither  ye  go  over  to 

15  possess  it.  Take  ye  therefore  good  heed  unto  yourselves  ; 
for  ye  saw  no  manner  of  form  on  the  day  that  the  Lord 
spake  unto  you  in  Horeb  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire  : 

16  lest  ye  corrupt  yourselves,  and  make  you  a  graven  image 
in  the  form  of  any  figure,  the  likeness  of  male  or  female, 

17  the  likeness  of  any  beast  that  is  on  the  earth,  the  likeness 

18  of  any  winged  fowl  that  flieth  in  the  heaven,  the  likeness 
of  any  thing  that  creepeth  on  the  ground,  the  likeness  of 

19  any  fish  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth :  and  lest 
thou  lift  up  thine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  when  thou  seest 
the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars,  even  all  the  host  of 
heaven,  thou  be  drawn  away  and  worship  them,  and  serve 
them,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  divided  unto  all  the 

the  Decalogue  itself  can  be  called  '  the  covenant '  of  Yahweh.     Cf. 
Driver,  pp.  67,  68,  on  whose  very  full  note  the  above  is  based. 

16.  corrupt  yourselves  :  rather  *  do  corruptly'  (verse  25  :  cf. 
Isa.  i.  4  R. v.,  'deal  corruptly'). 

graven  image :  (Exod.  xx.  4  ;  Deut.  v.  8)  properly  a  figure 
cut  or  hewn  out  of  wood  (Isa.  xl.  20)  or  stone  (Isa.  xxi.  9)  ;  but 
the  name  {p^sel)  is  extended  to  images  in  general  when  of  cast 
metal  (Isa.  xl.  19).     Figure  =  image  or  statue. 

17.  Cf.  Ezek.  viii.  10.  *  All  the  great  deities  of  the  northern 
Semites  had  their  sacred  animals,  and  were  themselves  worshipped 
in  animal  form,  or  in  association  with  animal  symbols,  down  to  a 
late  date'  {Rel.  Sent.  288).  The  explanation  of  such  phenomena 
seems  to  lie  in  totcmism,  especially  in  the  idea  of  kinship  between 
animals  and  men,  and  of  communion  with  the  god  through  the 
sacred  animal. 

18.  under  the  earth  :  see  the  diagram  of  the  early  Semitic 
conception  of  the  universe  in  the  Centuiy  Bible,  '  Genesis,'  p.  66. 
The  water  is  that  of  *  the  great  deep '  (Gen.  vii.  11),  the  supposed 
source  of  springs  and  rivers  (cf.  Ezek.  xxxi.  4). 

19.  drawn  away:  xxx.  17  ;  for  the  idea  cf.  Job  xxxi.  26. 

the  host  of  heaven  :  xvii.  3  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  16  :  doubtless 
with  special  reference  to  the  star-worship  of  Assyria  and  Baby- 
lonia. 

hath  divided:  (see  xxix.  26  R.  V.  marg.)  for  worship. 


DEUTERONOMY    4.  20-26.     D» 


79 


peoples  under  the  whole  heaven.     But  the  Lord  hath  20 
taken  you,  and  brought  you  forth  out  of  the  iron  furnace, 
out  of  Egypt,  to  be  unto  him  a  people  of  inheritance,  as 
at  this  day.     Furthermore  the  Lord  was  angry  with  me  2 1 
for  your  sakes,  and  sware  that  I  should  not  go  over 
Jordan,  and  that  I  should  not  go  in  unto  that  good  land, 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for  an  inheritance : 
but  I  must  die  in  this  land,  I  must  not  go  over  Jordan  :  22 
but  ye  shall  go  over,  and  possess  that  good  land.     Take  23 
heed  unto  yourselves,  lest  ye  forget  the  covenant  of  the 
Lord  your  God,  which  he  made  with  you,  and  make  you 
a  graven  image  in  the  form  of  any  thing  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  hath  forbidden  thee.     For  the  Lord  thy  God  is  24 
a  devouring  fire,  a  jealous  God. 

When  thou  shalt  beget  children,  and  children's  chil-  25 
dren,  and  ye  shall  have  been  long  in  the  land,  and  shall 
corrupt  yourselves,  and  make  a  graven  image  in  the  form 
of  any  thing,  and  shall  do  that  which  is  evil  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  provoke  him  to  anger :  I  call  26 
heaven  and  earth  to  witness  against  you  this  day,  that  ye 
shall  soon  utterly  perish  from  off  the  land  whereunto  ye 

20.  yon :  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew. 

iron  fnrnace :  i.  e.  one  whose  fire  is  fierce  enough  to  melt 
iron  ;  so,  of  Egypt  also,  Jer.  xi.  4  ;  1  Kings  viii.  51  :  cf.  Isa. 
xlviii.  10. 

a  people  of  inheritance :  i.  e.  for  Yahweh  Himself :  cf.  vii.  6, 
ix.  29,  xiv.  2,  xxvi.  18. 

21.  angrry  with  me  :  i.  37,  iii.  26,  though  *  sware '  introduces  a 
new  feature. 

24.  a  devourinsr  fire  (ix.  3)  ;  a  jealons  God  (v.  9,  vi.  15)  ; 
i.e.  terrible  in  His  wrath,  exclusive  in  His  claims. 

25.  have  been  long  :  Hebrew  '  have  fallen  asleep,'  i.  e.  become 
lethargic.  Omit  the  words  to  anger.  Corrupt  yourselves  should 
be  '  do  corruptly.' 

26.  heaven  and  earth :  as  abiding  and  outlasting  the  changes 
of  human  life  (xxx.  19,  xxxi.  28,  xxxii.  i  :  see  note  on  Josh.  xxiv. 
27,  the  stone  of  witness). 


8o  DEUTERONOMY    4.   i-j-m-     D' 

go  over  Jordan  to  possess  it ;  ye  shall  not  prolong  your 

27  days  upon  it,  but  shall  utterly  be  destroyed.  And  the 
Lord  shall  scatter  you  among  the  peoples,  and  ye  shall  be 
left  few  in  number  among  the  nations,  whither  the  Lord 

28  shall  lead  you  away.  And  there  ye  shall  serve  gods,  the 
work  of  men's  hands,  wood  and  stone,  which  neither  see, 

29  nor  hear,  nor  eat,  nor  smell.  But  if  from  thence  ye 
shall  seek  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou  shalt  find  him,  if  thou 
search  after  him  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul. 

30  When  thou  art  in  tribulation,  and  all  these  things  are 
come  upon  thee,  *in  the  latter  days  thou  shalt  return  to  the 

31  Lord  thy  God,  and  hearken  unto  his  voice  :  for  the  Lord 
thy  God  is  a  merciful  God  ;  he  will  not  fail  thee,  neither 
destroy  thee,  nor  forget  the  covenant  of  thy  fathers  which 

32  he  sware  unto  them.  For  ask  now  of  the  days  that  are 
past,  which  were  before  thee,  since  the  day  that  God 
created  man  upon  the  earth,  and  from  the  one  end  of 
heaven  unto  the  other,  whether  there  hath  been  any 
such  thing  as  this  great  thing  is,  or  hath  been  heard  like 

33  it  ?  Did  ever  people  hear  the  voice  of  God  speaking 
out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as  thou  hast  heard,  and 

34  live  ?  Or  hath  God  assayed  to  go  and  take  him  a  nation 

^  Or,  if  in  the  latter  days  thou  return 

28.  Cf.  Jer.  xvi.  13.  To  leave  one's  own  land  is  to  leave  the 
god  linked  to  its  fortunes  (i  Sam.  xxvi.  19  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  25),  and 
the  idea  lingers  when  practical  monotheism  has  been  reached 
(verses  35,  39),  and  the  idol  has  become  the  butt  of  Hebrew 
sarcasm,  as  in  exilic  prophecy    Isa.  xliv.  12  f.). 

29  f.  The  passage  presupposes  the  condition  of  the  exiles,  to 
whose  spiritual  need  the  writer  would  minister. 

30.  in  tlie  latter  days:  Hebrew  'in  the  end  of  the  daj's,' 
i.  e.  the  climax  or  goal  of  some  particular  period,  often  with  a 
Messianic  reference  (Hos.  iii.  5  ;  Isa.  ii.  2  —-  Mic.  iv.  1). 

31.  merciful:  rather  'compassionate';  the  conception  stands 
in  contrast  to  verse  24. 

fail :  rather  '  let  fall '  (Joshua  i.  5). 
33.  God,  or  '  a  god  '  (so  verse  34). 


DEUTERONOMY    4.  35-40.     D'  81 

from  the  midst  oi another  nation,  by  ^-  temptations,  by  signs, 
and  by  wonders,  and  by  war,  and  by  a  mighty  hand,  and 
by  a  stretched  out  arm,  and  by  great  terrors,  according  to 
all  that  the  Lord  your  God  did  for  you  in  Egypt  before- 
your  eyes  ?  Unto  thee  it  was  shewed,  that  thou  mightest  35 
know  that  the  Lord  he  is  God  ;  there  is  none  else  beside 
him.    Out  of  heaven  he  made  thee  to  hear  his  voice,  that  36 
he  might  instruct  thee  :  and  upon  earth  he  made  thee  to 
see  his  great  fire ;  and  thou  heardest  his  words  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire.     And  because  he  loved  thy  fathers,  37 
therefore  he  chose  their  seed  after  them,  and  brought  thee 
out  with  his  presence,  with  his  great  power,  out  of  Egypt ; 
to  drive  out  nations  from  before  thee  greater  and  mightier  38 
than  thou,  to  bring  thee  in,  to  give  thee  their  land  for  an 
inheritance,  as  at  this  day.    Know  therefore  this  day,  and  39 
lay  it  to  thine  heart,  that  the  Lord  he  is  God  in  heaven 
above  and  upon  the  earth  beneath :  there  is  none  else. 
And  thou  shalt  keep  his  statutes,  and  his  commandments,  40 
which  I  command  thee  this  day,  that  it  may  go  well 
with  thee,  and  with  thy  children  after  thee,  and  that  thou 
mayest  prolong  thy  days  upon  the  land,  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  giveth  thee,  for  ever. 

*  Or,  trials    Or,  evidences 

34.  temptations  :  R.V.  marg.  *  trials'  is  to  be  read,  viz.  those 
of  Pharaoh,  by  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  to  which  the  '  signs '  and 
'  wonders '  also  refer. 

35.  there  is  none  else  beside  him :  cf.  verse  39.  The  explicit 
monotheism  implies  a  later  standpoint  than  that  of  chaps,  v  f. 
See  on  vi.  4. 

36.  Exod.  xix.  16,  18  :  instruct  is  not  an  adequate  rendering. 
The  Hebrew  word  'denotes,  not  the  instruction  of  the  intellect, 
but  the  discipline  or  education  of  the  moral  character '  (Driver). 

37.  with  his  presence  (Exod.  xxxiii.  14  :  cf.  Isa.  Ixiii.  9) — 
i.  e.  personally  :  cf.  2  Sam,  xvii.  ii  (R.  V.  marg.).  For  *  therefore 
he '  read  *  and,'  closely  connecting  verses  37  and  38  with  verse 
39  (know,  therefore.  &c.). 

loved:  characteristic  of  Deuteronomy  (vii.  8,  13,  x.  i5,xxiii.  5). 
G 


82  DEUTERONOMY    ^.4145.     P  D  R° 

41      [P]  Then  Moses  separated  three  cities  beyond  Jordan 

43  toward  the  sunrising ;  that  the  manslayer  might  flee  thither, 

which  slayeth  his  neighbour  unawares,  and  hated  him  not 

in  time  past ;  and  that  fleeing  unto  one  of  these  cities  he 

43  might  Hve  :  namely^  Bezer  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  »  plain 
country,  for  the  Reuben ites ;  and  Ramoth  in  Gilead,  for 
the  Gadites ;  and  Golan  in  Bashan,  for  the  Manassites. 

44  [D]  And  this  is  the  law  which  Moses  set  before  the 

45  children  of  Israel :  [R°]  these  are  the  testimonies,  and 
the  statutes,  and  the  judgements,  which  Moses  spake 

*  Or,  table  land 

iv.  41-43.  Moses  Assigns  Three  Cities  of  Refuge  East  of  Jordan. 
This  note  is  without  any  relation  to  what  precedes  or  follows, 
and  was  probably  inserted  here  for  want  of  a  more  convenient 
place.  In  xix.  i  f.  we  read  the  commandment  to  appoint  cities  of 
refuge  west  of  Jordan,  but  there  is  no  reference  to  any  previous 
appointment,  nor,  indeed,  .to  the  east  district  at  all  (unless  the 
additional  three  of  verse  8f.  be  so  understood).  According  to 
Num.  XXXV.  14  (P),  three  cities  of  refuge  are  to  be  assigned  east, 
and  three  west  of  Jordan.  The  present  passage  is  most  simply 
understood  as  the  statement  that  Moses  fulfilled  on  the  east  of 
Jordan  the  command  there  given  to  him,  and  is  therefore  added 
by  a  writer  acquainted  with  P.  The  question  is,  however,  com- 
plicated by  the  mention  of  these  eastern  cities  in  Joshua  xx.  8  (P), 
where  they  are  assigned  by  Joshua,  as  if  the  present  section  were 
non-existent.  Moreover,  verse  42  is  obviousl}'  drawn  from  xix. 
3-5,  so  that  the  late  writer  who  made  this  insertion  was  familiar 
both  with  D  and  P. 

43.  Bezer  (rebuilt  by  Mesha,  Moabite  Stone,  1.  27)  :  perhaps 
Kusr  el-Besheir,  two  miles  south-west  of  Dibon. 

Ramoth  in  Gilead:  (i  K\n%s  xxii.  3,  &c.)  site  disputed,  but 
probably  in  the  north  '  near  the  Yarmuk,  for  it  was  on  debatable 
ground  between  Aram  and  Israel'  {H.G.H.L.^  ^^i^- 

Qolan,  also  unknown,  whose  name  has  descended  in  that  of 
the  district  Gaulanitis,  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

iv.  44-49.  Title  and  short  Introduction  to  the  Deuteronomic  Code. 
This  section  forms  a  parallel  to,  not  a  continuation  of,  i-iv.  40, 
which  it  ignores.  It  is  possible  that  with  verse  44  we  begin  the 
original  Deuteronom3\  But  this  title  has  been  expanded  {a  by 
the  addition  of  the  title  in  verse  45.  'ly  by  a  series  of  details  as  to 
time  and  place,  summarized  from  chaps,  i-iii. 


DEUTERONOMY   4.46—5.  3.     R^D  83 

unto  the  children  of  Israel,  when  they  came  forth  out  of 
Egypt ;  beyond  Jordan,  in  the  valley  over  against  Beth-  46 
peor,  in  the  land  of  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,  who 
dwelt  at  Heshbon,  whom  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel 
smote,  when  they  came  forth  out  of  Egypt :  and  they  took  47 
his  land  in  possession,  and  the  land  of  Og  king  of  Bashan, 
the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites,  which  were  beyond  Jordan 
toward  the  sunrising ;  from  Aroer,  which  is  on  the  edge  48 
of  the  valley  of  Arnon,  even  unto  mount  Sion  (the  same 
is  Hermon),  and  all  the  Arabah  beyond  Jordan  eastward,  49 
even  unto  the  sea  of  the  Arabah,  under  the  *  slopes  of 
Pisgah. 

[D]  And  Moses  called  unto  all  Israel,  and  said  unto  5 
them,  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  statutes  and  the  judgements 
which  I  speak  in  your  ears  this  day,  that  ye  may  learn 
them,  and  observe  to  do  them.     The  Lord  our  God  2 
made  a  covenant  with  us  in  Horeb.     The  Lord  made  3 
not  this  covenant  with  our  fathers,  but  with  us,  even  us, 
*  Or,  springs 

46 f.  Cf.  iii.  29,  i,  4,  ii.  32 f.,  iii.  8,  ii.  36,  Hi.  9,  17.  'Sion,' 
as  a  name  for  Hermon,  is  the  only  new  element. 

v-xxvi.  The  original  '  Book  of  the  Law '  is  thought,  almost 
universally,  to  be  contained  within  the  limits  of  chaps,  v-xxvi,  xxviii 
(see  Introd.,  §  1)  ;  but  no  single  theory,  from  among  the  many  that 
have  been  formed  as  to  the  precise  elements,  has  secured  general 
acceptance.  Our  present  Book  of  Deuteronomy  represents  chaps, 
v-xxvi  as  the  continuous  (second)  address  of  Moses  to  Israel. 

V.  1-2 1.  Moses  begins  his  delivery  of  the  Deuteronomic  law  by 
reference  to  the  covenant  made  in  Horeb,  at  which  his  hearers 
were  present  (verses  1-3).  He  then  acted  as  mediator  between 
Yahweh  and  Israel  (verses  4-5)  for  the  delivery  of  the  '  Ten 
Commandments'  (verses  6-21). 

2.  Horeb :  see  on  i.  2,  and  note  relation  to  iv.  1-40  (above,, 
p.  75)  ;  covenant,  iv.  13  note. 

3.  All  the  hearers  were  present  at  Horeb  ;  this  representation 
agrees  with  that  of  the  (dependent)  section  iv.  1-40  ^cf.  verses  10, 

G    2 


84  DEUTERONOMY    5.  4-7.     D 

4  who  are  all  of  us  here  alive  this  day.  The  Lord  spake 
with  you  face  to  face  in  the  mount  out  of  the  midst  of 

5  the  fire,  (I  stood  between  the  Lord  and  you  at  that  time,  to 
shew  you  the  word  of  the  Lord  :  for  ye  were  afraid  be- 
cause of  the  fire,  and  went  not  up  into  the  mount ;)  saying, 

6  a  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  brought  thee  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  ^  bondage. 

7  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  c  before  me. 

*  See  Ex.  xx.  2.         ^  Heb.  bondmen.         •=  Or,  beside  me. 

32-5),  but  directly  contradicts  that  of  the  (independent?)  section 
T-iii:  cf.  i.  35,39  f.,ii.  14,  15- 

4.  facs  to  face  seems  to  exclude  the  mediation  of  Moses, 
asserted  by  verse  5  (added  from  Exod.  xix.  20,  xx.  19?). 

6  f.  The  Decalogue,  to  whose  earlier  and  more  familiar  form 
R.  V.  marg.  refers.  Still  earlier  than  Exod.  xx.  2-17  (E)  is  the 
very  different  table  of  '  the  ten  words '  (the  Hebrew  name  for  the 
Decalogue)  apparently  embedded  in  Exod.  xxxiv.  10-26  (J); 
Wellhausen's  reconstruction  is  quoted  by  Driver,  L.O.T.  p.  37. 

I  We  are  here  concerned  only  with  the  characteristics  of  D's  form 
of  the  Decalogue  in  contrast  with  that  in  E.  These  are — (a)  more 
definite  or  emphatic  statement ;  {b)  recognition  of  the  higher  status 
of  the  wife  ;  (c)  substitution  of  a  philanthropic  motive  for  keeping 
the  Sabbath.  A  good  summary  of  the  teaching  of  the  Decalogue 
will  be  found  in  Paterson's  article  in  D.B.  (i.  582).  There  has  been 
much  difference  of  opinion  as  to  its  age  and  authorship,  and  some 
scholars  still  maintain  a  Mosaic  original,  whilst  admitting  addition 
of  later  laws  (e.g.  ii  and  iv,)  or  amplification  of  the  original 
words.  Its  almost  exclusive  concern  with  morality,  however 
(contrast  the  ritual  'ten  words'  of  Exod.  xxxiv.  10-26),  seems  to 
connect  it  with  the  prophetic  teaching  of  the  eighth  century 
(cf.  Addis,  E.B.  1050),  of  which  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  compen- 
dium. In  the  arrangement  of  the  Ten  Commandments  familiar  to 
English  readers,  they  fall  into  two  sets  of  five,  beginning  at 
verse  7,  the  first  set  dealing  with  the  spiritual  worship  of  Yahweh 
and  with  respect  for  parents,  the  second  with  the  prohibition 
of  immoral  acts  towards  men.  In  the  Jewish  division,  how- 
ever, verse  6  is  taken  as  the  first  word,  and  verses  7,  8  are 
taken  together  as  the  second  (see  E.B.  1050 ;  Taylor,  Sayings  of 
the  Jewish  Fathers.,  p.  120). 

*1.  before  me  :  probably  '  in  addition  to  me '  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.)  ; 
the  phrase  leaves  open  the  question  as  to  the  real  existence  of 
other  gods  ;  but  see  on  vi.  4. 


DEUTERONOMY   5.  S-15.     D  85 

Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  a  graven  image,  the  8 
likefiess  o/sLny  form  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in 
the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth  : 
thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  unto  them,  nor  serve  9 
them  :  for  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting 
the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  and  upon 
the  third  and  upon  the  fourth  generation  of  them  that 
hate  me ;  and  shewing  mercy  unto  ^  thousands,  of  them  10 
that  love  me  and  keep  my  commandments. 

Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  ^^  in  1 1 
vain  :  for  the  Lord  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh 
his  name  in  vain. 

Observe  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy,  as  the  Lord  12 
thy  God  commanded  thee.     Six  days  shalt  thou  labour,  1?, 
and  do  all  thy  work:  but  the  seventh  day  is  a  sabbath  14 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God  :  t'n  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work, 
thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy  manservant, 
nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  any 
of  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates ; 
/that  thy  manservant  and  thy  maidservant  may  rest  as  well 
as  thou.     And  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a  15 
^  See  Ex.  xx.  6.         ^  Or,  for  vanity  or  falsehood 

8.  a  graven  image  :  E  continues  '  or  any  form  *  for  D's  *  even 
any  form,'  as  do  the  versions  here.  In  Exod.  xxxiv.  17  it  is  the 
'molten  god,'  a  special  and  more  artificial  product,  that  is  forbidden. 

10.  R.  V.  marg.  suggests  by  reference  the  marginal  alternative 
*  a  thousand  generations,'  which  is  preferable  (cf.  vii.  9). 

H.  in  vain:  put  for  misuse  in  the  widest  sense,  including 
false  swearing  or  purposes  of  superstition  (magical  rites  and 
incantations). 

12.  Observe:  more  direct  than  E's  'remember.'  D  adds 
'  as  Yahweh  thy  God  commanded  thee.' 

14.  D  adds  'thine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  any  of ;  also  the  last 
clause  '  that  thy  manservant  and  thy  maidservant  may  rest  as  well 
as  thou,'  with  which  is  connected  the  striking  difference  in  the 
next  verse. 

15.  and  thou  shalt  renienther,  &c.     This  is  the  most  impor- 


86  DEUTERONOMY   5.   16-21.     D 

servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  Lord  thy  God 
brought  thee  out  thence  by  a  mighty  hand  and  by  a 
stretched  out  arm  :  therefore  the  Lord  thy  God 
commanded  thee  to  keep  the  sabbath  day. 

16  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  as  the  Lord  thy 
God  commanded  thee :  that  thy  days  may  be  long,  and 
that  it  may  go  well  with  thee,  upon  the  land  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee. 

17  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder. 

1 8  Neither  shalt  thou  commit  adultery. 

19  Neither  shalt  thou  steal. 

20  Neither  shalt  thou  bear  false  witness  against  thy 
neighbour. 

2 1  ^  Neither  shalt  thou  covet  thy  neighbour's  wife  ;  neither 
shalt  thou  desire  thy  neighbour's  house,  his  field,  or  his 
manservant,  or  his  maidservant,  his  ox,  or  his  ass,  or 
any  thing  that  is  thy  neighbour's. 

a  [Ver.  18  in  Heb.] 

tant  difference  between  D  and  E.  For  the  remote  and  wholly 
theoretical  reason  of  E,  claiming  the  day  as  Yahweh's,  D  substitutes 
characteristically  the  humanitarian  motive  (cf.  xv.  13  f.,  xvi.  11, 
xxiv.  14  f.)  of  giving  needed  rest  to  dependents.  This  is  rein- 
forced by  appeal  to  the  memory  of  Israel's  own  needs  in  Egypt 
(cf.  XV.  15,  xvi.  12,  xxiv.  18,  22). 

16.  D  adds  '  as  Yahweh  thy  God  commanded  thee/  also  *  and 
that  it  may  go  well  with  thee,'  the  latter  being  characteristic  of  this 
book's  doctrine  of  providence  (v.  29,  vi.  18,  xii.  25,  28,  xxii.  7). 
Cf,  Eph.  vi.  2,  3. 

17.  In  the  Hebrew  papyrus  found  at  Fayum  and  now  at  Cam- 
bridge, the  prohibition  of  adultery  precedes  that  of  murder  (text  in 
Z.A.T.JV.,  1903,  p.  348). 

20.  false  witness  :  D  has  a  different  word  for  '  false'  (  =  vain, 
verse  11). 

21.  D  adds  'his  field,'  and  recognizes  the  higher  status  of  the 
wife  by  placing  her  first  instead  of  second  (after  *  house  '),  and  by 
using  a  distinct  verb  (covet  .  .  .  desire  ;  with  more  physical  sug- 
gestion?) in  regard  to  the  other  possessions.  Augustine,  followed 
by  Roman  Catholics  and  Lutherans,  carries  this  distinction  further 
by  making  two  commandments  of  verse  21.     (He  combines  i  and  ii.) 


DEUTERONOMY    5.   22  2S.     D  87 

These  words  the  Lord  spake  unto  all  your  assembly  22 
in  the  mount  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  of  the  cloud, 
and  of  the  thick  darkness,  with  a  great  voice :    and  he 
added  no  more.     And  he  wrote  them  upon  two  tables  of 
stone,  and  gave  them  unto  me.     And  it  came  to  pass,  33 
when  ye  heard  the  voice  out  of  the  midst  of  the  darkness, 
while  the  mountain  did  burn  with  fire,  that  ye  came  near 
unto  me,  even  all  the  heads  of  your  tribes,  and  your 
elders ;    and  ye  said,  Behold,  the  Lord  our  God  hath  24 
shewed  us  his  glory  and  his  greatness,  and  we  have  heard 
his  voice  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire  :   we  have  seen  this 
day  that  God  doth  speak  with  man,  and  he  liveth.     Now  25 
therefore  why  should  we  die?    for  this  great  fire  will 
consume  us  :   if  we  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord  our  God 
any  more,  then  we  shall  die.     For  who  is  there  of  all  26 
flesh,   that    hath    heard    the   voice   of  the   living    God 
speaking  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as  we  have,  and 
lived?   Go  thou  near,  and  hear  all  that  the  Lord  our  27 
God  shall  say  :  and  speak  thou  unto  us  all  that  the  Lord 
our  God  shall  speak  unto  thee ;   and  we  will  hear  it,  and 
do  it.     And  the  Lord  heard  the  voice  of  your  words,  28 
when  ye  spake  unto  me ;   and  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  I 
have  heard  the  voice  of  the  words  of  this  people,  which 
they  have  spoken  unto  thee :    they  have  well  said  all  that 

Steuernagel  compares  xxi.  10  f.,  xxii.  13  f.,  xxiv.  if.,  as  similar 
attempts  of  Deuteronomy  to  raise  the  position  of  women. 

V.  22-33.  Moses  recalls  the  manner  in  which  the  Decalogue 
was  delivered  verse  22},  and  the  request  of  the  people  that  thej' 
might  no  more  hear  the  voice  of  Yahweh,  but  might  receive  His 
messages  through  Moses  (verses  23-7).  This  request  was  ap- 
proved by  Yahweh,  who  appointed  Moses  as  mediator  (verses 
28-31).     Let  Israel,  therefore,  obey  and  prosper  (verses  32,  33). 

22.  A  parallel  narrative  is  given  in  ix.  9-1 1  :  cf,  Exod.  xxxi.  18. 

27.  thou:  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew,  in  both  places. 

28.  For  the  request,  see  Exod.  xx.  19  ;  its  approval  by  Yahweh 
is  not  otherwise  recorded. 


88  DEUTERONOMY   5.  29—6.  3.     D 

29  they  have  spoken.  *  Oh  that  there  were  such  an  heart  in 
them,  that  they  would  fear  me,  and  keep  all  my  com- 
mandments always,  that  it  might  be  well  with  them,  and 

30  with  their  children  for  ever  !   Go  say  to  them,  Return  ye 

31  to  your  tents.  But  as  for  thee,  stand  thou  here  by  me, 
and  I  will  speak  unto  thee  all  the  commandment,  and 
the  statutes,  and  the  judgements,  which  thou  shalt  teach 
them,  that  they  may  do  them  in  the  land  which  I  give 

32  them  to  possess  it.  Ye  shall  observe  to  do  therefore  as  the 
Lord  your  God  hath  commanded  you  :  ye  shall  not  turn 

33  aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left.  Ye  shall  walk  in  all  the 
way  which  the  Lord  your  God  hath  commanded  you,  that 
ye  may  live,  and  that  it  may  be  well  with  you,  and  that  ye 
may  prolong  your  days  in  the  land  which  ye  shall  possess. 

6  Now  this  is  the  commandment,  the  statutes,  and  the 
judgements,  which  the  Lord  your  God  commanded  to 
teach  you,  that  ye  might  do  them  in  the  land  whither  ye 

2  go  OY<er  to  possess  it :  that  thou  mightest  fear  the  Lord  thy 
God,  to  keep  all  his  statutes  and  his  commandments,  which 
I  command  thee,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and  thy  son's  son,  all 
the  days  of  thy  life  ;  and  that  thy  days  may  be  prolonged. 

3  Hear  therefore,  O  Israel,  and  observe  to  do  it ;   that  it 

*  Or,  Oh  that  they  had  such  air  heart  as  this  alway,  to  fear  me, 
and  keep  all  my  commandments^  that,  &c. 


29.  R.  V.  marg.  preferable.  The  steady  purpose  of  the  heart 
is  contrasted  with  transient  fear,  prompting  the  ready  pledge  to 
obey. 

30.  For  the  formula  of  dismissal,  cf.  note  on  Joshua  xxii  4. 

31.  all  the  commandment:  (xi.  22,  xix.  9)  including  the 
Deuteronomic  Code  as  a  whole. 

vi.  1-3.  Exhortation  to  obey  the  law  now  to  be  communicated, 
since  obedience  will  bring  prosperity. 

1  connects  directly  with  v.  31. 

2.  fear  :  in  this  context,  practically  '  reverence,'  and  not  to  be 
contrasted  with  the  '  love'  of  verse  5,  with  which  it  is  in  liarmony. 


DEUTERONOMY  6.  4.     D  89 

may  be  well  with  thee,  and  that  ye  may  increase  mightily, 

as  the  Lord,  the  God  of  thy  fathers,  hath  promised 

unto  thee,  in  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 

Hear,  O  Israel :  *the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  :  and  4>  5 

"■  Or,  ^he  Lord  our  God,  the  Lord  is  one  Or,  the  Lord  is  our 
God,  the  Lord  is  one    Or,  the  Lord  is  our  God,  the  Lord  alone 

3.  in  a  land  :  The  '  in '  is  supplied  by  R.  V.  to  the  incomplete 
Hebrew.     Read  with  LXX,  '  to  give  to  thee  a  land.* 

milk  and  honey:  as  often  in  JE  (Exod.  iii.  8,  &c.).  They 
are  enumerated  amongst  the  products  of  the  land  in  xxxii.  13,  14, 
and  their  selection,  in  this  standing  phrase,  is  frequently  explained 
from  the  tastes  of  Bedouins.  Greek  parallels,  however,  perhaps 
suggest  a  reference  to  the  cult  of  Dionysus,  as  though  Canaan 
were  said  to  produce  'food  for  the  gods '  (Z.A.  T.W.,  1902,  p.  321  f.). 
vi.  4-9.  Yahweh  has  the  sole  claim  to  Israel's  love  and 
memory.  This  paragraph,  with  which  is  joined  xi.  13-21  and 
Num.  XV.  37-41,  forms  the  famous  Jewish  'Shema''  appointed 
for  recitation  by  every  Jew  morning  and  evening  (Taylor,  Sayings 
of  the  Jewish  Fathers,  p.  ii6f.  ;  Schurer.  op.  cit.,  vol.  ii,  §  27, 
Appendix),  whose  name  is  taken  from  the  first  Hebrew  word  (Eng. 
*  hear  ').  The  whole  decalogue  is  held  to  be  latent  in  the  Shema' 
(Taylor,  /.  c,  who  quotes  the  proof  texts)  ;  Christ  Himself  c^^sred 
t|ie  opening  words  of  the  Shema'  to  be  the  first  commanWient, 
comprehensive  of  all  duty  towards  God  (Mark  xii.  29;  Matt.  xxii. 
37  :  cf.  Luke  X.  27,  28). 

4.  the  I.OBD  our  God  is  one  LORD  :  the  Hebrew  words  are, 
'  Yahweh  our  God  Yahweh  one,'  and  their  exact  translation  and 
interpretation  is  much  disputed,  as  the  three  marginal  variations 
of  the  R.  V.  suggest.  The  rendering  of  the  R.V.  text,  though  that 
of  Dillmann  (p.  269)  and  Driver  (p.  89)  is  open  to  the  serious  criti- 
cism that  Yahweh  is  a  proper  name,  and  can  hardly  admit  of  the 
epithet  *  one  '  before  it,  since  there  is  no  other  god  bearing  this 
name  (cf  Taylor,  op.  cit.,  p.  116).  The  first  margin  is  questioned 
on  the  ground  that  '  Yahweh  our  God  is  one '  would  have  been 
the  more  natural  way  of  expressing  this,  without  resumption  of 
the  subject  by  the  second  Yahweh,  The  second  margin  is  said  to 
be  '  less  forcible  rhetorically'  (Driver)  than  the  text.  The  third 
margin,  the  rendering  of  Ibn  Ezra,  is  followed  by  the  two  most 
recent  commentators,  Steuernagel  and  Bertholet,  and  is  most  in 
harmony  with  the  context,  since  verse  5  claims  the  whole-hearted 
love  of  Israel  for  Yahweh  (alone),  and  nothing  suggests  a  contrast 
with  the  local  Baals,  who  are  not  '  one '  but  many.  The  objection 
to  this  view  is  that  we  might  have  expected  another  Hebrew 
word  {l^baddo:  cf.  a  Kings  xix.    15  ;   Ps.  Ixxxvi.  lo),  to  express 


90  DEUTERONOMY    G.  6-8.     D 

thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart, 

6  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might.  And  these 
words,  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  upon 

7  thine  heart :  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto 
thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in 
thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when 

8  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou 
shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand,  and  they 

'alone'  ;  but  the  present  word  (ehdd)  is  found  in  this  sense  in 
I  Chron.  xxix.  i,  where  it  is  rendered  '  alone  '  by  R.  V.  '  The 
sentence  makes  no  statement  concerning  the  existence  or  non- 
existence of  other  gods,  but  simply  emphasizes  the  fact  that  there 
is  only  one  God  for  Israel,  and  that  Israel  must  honour  no  other 
god  beside  Him '  (Steuernagel,  p.  25).  If  we  call  this  mono- 
theism, the  term  must  be  interpreted  historically,  not  philosophi- 
cally. The  existence  of  other  gods  is,  at  least  nominally,  re- 
cognized in  verse  14  ;  the  Hebrew  was  content  here  to  assert  the 
exclusive  claim  and  the  incomparable  and  unique  right  of  Yahweh 
to  his  devotion.  A  more  explicit  statement  of  monotheism  is 
found  in   the  (later)  passage  iv.  35,   39  ('  there  is  none  else^  : 

S.^H'he  love  of  God  ....  is  set  forth  in  Deuteronomy  with 
peculiar  emphasis  as  the  fundamental  motive  of  human  action ' 
(Driver,  p.  91).  Both  thought  and  feeling,  the  whole  personality, 
owe  allegiance  to  Yahweh  ;  there  must  be  no  compromise  with 
other  cults. 

6.  these  words:  i.e.  verse  4f  as  the  epitome  of  the  teaching 
of  the  book. 

upon  thine  heart :  the  psychical  centre  of  memory  and  of 
love  :  cf.  Jer.  xxxi.  33  ;  for  a  parallel  to  the  whole  passage,  see 
xi.  i8-2T.  These  words  are  to  become  a  theme  of  living  interest, 
at  home  and  abroad,  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  day  (verse  7). 

7.  teach  . . .  diligfently  :  or  '  impress,'  a  strong  word,  here  only. 

8.  This  verse  became  the  scriptural  basis  for  the  •  phylacteries ' 
of  the  N.T.  (tephillin).  It  is  matter  of  dispute  whether  the 
original  meaning  of  the  words  is  literal  or  figurative.  In 
Exod.  xiii.  16  the  same  words  are  clearly  applied  figuratively, 
which  is  some  reason  for  taking  them  figuratively  here  '^as  do 
Steuernagel  and  BertholetV  On  the  other  hand,  the  next  verse 
seems  intended  literally,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  this  book  else- 
where (xxvii.  3,  8)  commands  the  law  to  be  written  actually  on 
stones  (Dillmann).  The  literal  view  CDillmann.  Driver)  seems 
here   more  probable ;    its  best  explanation  is  that  of  Benzinger 


DEUTERONOMY   6.  9-12.     D  91 

shall   be  for  frontlets  between  thine  eyes.     And   thou  9 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  door  posts  of  thy  house,  and 
upon  thy  gates. 

And  it  shall  be,  when  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bring  10 
thee  into  the  land  which  he  sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to 
Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  to  give  thee;   great 
and  goodly  cities,  which  thou  buildedst  not,  and  houses  n 
full  of  all  good  things,  which  thou  fiUedst  not,  and  cisterns 
hewn  out,  which  thou  hewedst  not,  vineyards  and  olive 
trees,  which  thou  plantedst  not,  and  thou  shalt  eat  and  be 
full ;   then   beware   lest  l;hou   forget   the   Lord,   which  1 2 
brought  thee  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the 

{E.B.  1566,  *  Frontlets  '),  viz.  that  in  this  way  the  amulets  worn 
by  Israelites  from  ancient  times  were  consecrated  to  the  use  of 
Yahweh.  The  actual  usage  of  Judaism  cannot,  however,  be 
traced  back  earlier  than  the  first  century  b.  c.  The  tephillin  are 
leather  pouches  fixed  to  a  band,  and  containing  slips  of  parch- 
ment on  which  the  Shema'  and  Exod.  xiii.  i-io,  11-16,  are 
written.  One  is  worn  on  the  left  arm  turned  towards  theJ^art, 
the  other  between  the  eyebrows,  at  morning  and  evening  ^»yer 
(-Benzinger,  /.  c). 

9.  The  custom  finds  parallels  from  ancient  and  modern  Eg3'pt. 
and  from  other  countries  (examples  in  Trumbull,  The  Threshold 
Covenant,  p.  68  f.  .  The  mezuza  (originally  'doorpost')  is  the 
small  metal  case,  containing  its  inscribed  parchment,  similar  to 
that  of  the  tephillin,  fixed  to  the  right-hand  doorpost  of  Jewish 
houses,  and  touched  at  entrance  and  exit.  So  used,  it  tends  to 
become  an  amulet  for  warding  ofi"  evil  from  the  house  ;  not,  as 
the  present  passage  intends,  a  stimulus  to  constant  memory  of 
Yahweh.  The  Babylonians,  in  the  same  waj',  appear  to  have 
hung  up  tablets,  with  reference  to  the  plague-god,  when  a  plague 
broke  out  (Jastrow,  Babylonian- A ssynan  Religion,  p.  269  n.\ 

vi.  10-15.  The  peril  of  the  Promised  Land  will  be  that  of  for- 
getting Yahweh's  deeds  and  worshipping  the  gods  of  the  country; 
thus  will  Yahweh  be  angered. 

11.  cisterns:  not  wells,  but  reservoirs  for  the  storage  of 
water ;  separately  named  because  an  important  feature  of  the 
Eastern  house  during  the  dry  season.  Mesha  (Moabite  Stone,  1. 24) 
writes,  'There  was  no  cistern  in  the  midst  of  the  city  .  .  .  and  I 
said  to  all  the  people,  '-  Make  you  every  man  a  cistern  in  his  own 
house.''  ■ 


92  DEUTERONOMY   6.  13-20.     D 

13  house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  fear  the  Lord  thy  God ; 
and  him  shalt  thou  serve,  and  shalt  swear  by  his  name. 

14  Ye  shall  not  go  after  other  gods,  of  the  gods  of  the 
^5  peoples  which  are  round  about  you;   for  the  Lord  thy 

God  in  the  midst  of  thee  is  a  jealous  God  ;  lest  the  anger 
of  the  Lord  thy  God  be  kindled  against  thee,  and  he 
destroy  thee  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

16  Ye  shall  not  tempt  the  Lord  your  God,  as  ye  tempted 

17  him  in  Massah.  Ye  shall  diligently  keep  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord  your  God,  and  his  testimonies,  and 

1 8  his  statutes,  which  he  hath  commanded  thee.  And  thou 
shalt  do  that  which  is  right  and  good  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord  :  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and  that  thou 
mayest  go  in  and  possess  the  good  land  which  the  Lord 

19  sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to  thrust  out  all  thine  enemies 
from  before  thee,  as  the  Lord  hath  spoken. 

20  When  thy  son  asketh  thee  in  time  to  come,  saying, 

12.  the  house  of  boiidage:  see  note  on  Joshua  xxiv.  17  : 
cf.  verse  21. 

13.  swear  by  his  name  :  i.  e.  no  other  deity  but  Yahweh  is  to 
be  recognized  in  the  invocations  of  oaths  (cf.  Ps.  Ixiii.  ii).  The 
solemn  appeal  confined  to  the  one  true  God  is  not  a  contradiction 
of,  but  a  step  towards,  the  more  ethical  and  spiritual  conception 
which  substitutes  a  '  Yea '  and  a  '  Nay '  for  all  oaths  (Matt.  v. 
34-7)- 

14.  see  on  verse  4  (end). 

15.  a  jealous  God:  cf.  iv.  24.  The  context  suggests  how 
crudely  this  anthropomorphism  is  to  be  interpreted.  The  '  other 
gods  '  are  primarily  the  local  Baals  of  Canaan,  in  the  writer's  view. 

vi.  16-19.  Yahweh's  presence  not  to  be  put  to  trial,  but  His 
law  obeyed,  that  Israel  may  dwell  prosperously  in  Canaan. 

16.  tempt:  rather  'test'  or  'prove':  cf  Exod.  xvii.  7. 
'Massah'  is  connected  with  the  Hebrew  word  translated  'test' 
{nissah)  :  cf.  ix.  22. 

vi.  20-25.  The  law  of  Yahweh  is  to  be  justified  to  future 
I  generations  by  the  story  of  His  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egypt  ; 
'  the  Law,  like  the  deliverance,  is  a  manifestation  of  Divine  grace. 


DEUTERONOMY    6.  31— 7.  i.     D  93 

What  mean  the  testimonies,  and  the  statutes,  and  the 
judgements,  which  the  Lord  our  God  hath  commanded 
you?    then    thou    shalt    say   unto    thy   son,   We   were  21 
Pharaoh's  bondmen  in  Egypt ;    and  the  Lord  brought 
us  out  of  Egypt  with  a  mighty  hand :   and  the  Lord  22 
shewed  signs  and  wonders,  great  and  sore,  upon  Egypt, 
upon  Pharaoh,  and  upon  all  his  house,  before  our  eyes  : 
and  he  brought  us  out  from  thence,  that  he  might  bring  23 
us  in,  to  give  us  the  land  which  he  sware  unto  our  fathers. 
And  the  Lord  commanded  us  to  do  all  these  statutes,  to  24 
fear  the  Lord  our  God,  for  our  good  always,  that  he 
might  preserve  us  alive,  as  at  this  day.     And  it  shall  be  25 
righteousness  unto  us,  if  we  observe  to  do  all  this  com- 
mandment before  the  Lord  our  God,  as  he  hath  com- 
manded us. 

When  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bring  thee  into  the  land  7 
whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it,  and  shall  ^  cast  out  many 
nations  before  thee,  the  Hittite,  and  the  Girgashite,.and 

''  *  Heb.  pluck  off. 

20.  Cf.  Exod.  xiii.  14,  where  a  similar  explanation  of  the  separa- 
tion of  the  firstborn  is  asked  and  given. 

23.  us  (first)  :  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew,  in  contrast  with  Egypt 
and  Pharaoh. 

24.  for  our  g'ood  always :  the  point  of  the  answer ;  the 
revelation  of  the  law  makes  possible  that  obedience  to  Yahweh's 
will  which  is  our  (sufficient)  '  righteousness,'  and  keeps  us  within 
the  sphere  of  His  continuing  purpose  to  save. 

vii.  I -I  I.  Victorious  Israel  is  to  extenninate  the  conquered 
peoples  of  Canaan,  to  inake  no  public  or  private  alliances  with  any 
of  them,  and  to  destroy  the  material  accompaniments  of  their 
religion,  lest  it  become  a  snare  (verses  1-5).  Israel  belongs  to 
Yahweh,  solely  through  the  initiative  of  His  love  ;  because  of  this, 
and  of  His  fidelity  to  past  promises,  has  Yahweh  delivered  Israel 
from  Egypt  (verses  6-8).  Let  Israel  obey  a  God  who  so  fully 
repays  both  love  and  hate  towards  Himself  (verses  9-1 1). 

1.  This  list  of  nations,  frequently  repeated  in  whole  or  part, 
gives  no  precise  geographical  information ;  it  is  *  designed  for  the 
purpose  of  presenting  an  impressive  picture  of  the  number  and 


94  DEUTERONOMY    7.  2-5.     D 

the  Amorite,  and  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and 
the  HivitCy  and  the  Jebusite,  seven  nations  greater  and 
i  mightier  than  thou ;  and  when  the  Lord  thy  God  shall 
deliver  them  up  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  smite  them ; 
then  thou  shalt  ^  utterly  destroy  them  ;  thou  shalt  make 
no  covenant  with  them,  nor  shew  mercy  unto  them  : 

3  neither  shalt  thou  make  marriages  with  them ;  thy 
daughter   thou   shalt   not   give   unto   his   son,    nor   his 

4  daughter  shalt  thou  take  unto  thy  son.  For  he  will  turn 
away  thy  son  from  following  me,  that  they  may  serve 
other  gods :   so  will  the  anger  of  the  Lord  be  kindled 

5  against  you,  and  he  will  destroy  thee  quickly.  But  thus 
shall  ye  deal  with  them ;  ye  shall  break  down  their  altars, 
and  dash  in  pieces  their  ^pillars,  and  hew  down  their 

*  Heb.  devote.        ''Or,  obelisks 

variety  ©£. the  nations  dispossessed  by  the  Israelites '  (Driver,  p.  97). 
The  Ainorites::and  Jtii£_Canaaniteii  are  the  two  of  most  importance, 
'  each  sufficiently  numerous  "aiTdprominent  to  supply  a  designation 
of  the  entire  country  ;  the  former,  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred, 
resident  chiefly  in  the  high  central  ground  of  Palestine,  the  latter 
chiefly  in  the  lower  districts  on  the  west  and  east '  {op.  cit.,  p.  12). 
For  the  Hittites,  see  on  Joshua  i.  4.  The  other  names  are  of 
more  local  significance  :  the  Hivites  are  connected  with  Gibeon 
(Joshua  ix.  7,  xi.  19),  and  with  Shechem  (Gen,  xxxiv.  a)  ;  the 
Jebiisites  with  Jerusalem  (Joshua  xviii.  28) ;  the  Perizsites  with 
the  Rephaim  (Joshua  xvii.  15)  and  the  Canaanite  (Gen.  xiii.  7)  ; 
the  Crirgrashites  are  of  unknown  locality. 

2.  utterly  destroy:  see  note  on  xx.  17  for  the  heyem  or 
ban.  A  covenant  with  the  natives  of  Canaan  is  forbidden  in  JE, 
Exod.  xxiii.  32,  xxxiv.  12  :  see  on  iv.  13. 

3.  Cf.  Joshua  xxiii.  12  for  the  peril  of  the  marriage  alliance  with 
non-Israelites.  The  policy  of  Ezra  (Ezra  ix  and  x),  at  a  critical 
time,  shows  how  real  this  peril  was  (cf.  Neh.  xiii.  23 f.).  'The 
permanence  of  Judaism  depended  on  the  religious  separateness  of 
the  Jews '  (Ryle,  Cam.  Bible,  '  Ezra,'  p.  143). 

4.  me:  i.e.  Yahwch,  though  Moses  is  the  nominal  speaker; 
so  elsewhere  (xi.  11,  &c.). 

5.  As  in  Exod.  xxxiv,  13  :  see  on  xvi.  ai,  aa,  and  cf.  xii.  3. 
The  graven  images  (see  on  iv.  16)  are  here  of  wood,  since  they 
can  be  burnt. 


DEUTERONOMY    7.  6-11.     D  95 

'^Ashenm,  and  burn  their  graven  images  with  fire.     I'or  6 
thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  :    the 
Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  pecuhar  people 
unto  himself,  ^  above  all  peoples  that  are  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth.    The  Lord  did  not  set  his  love  upon  you,  nor  7 
choose  you,  because  ye  were  more  in  number  than  any 
people ;  for  ye  were  the  fewest  of  all  peoples  :  but  because  8 
the  Lord  loveth  you,  and  because  he  would  keep  the 
oath  which  he  sware  unto  your  fathers,  hath  the  Lord 
brought  you  out  with  a  mighty  hand,  and  redeemed  you 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage,  from  the  hand  of  Pharaoh 
king  of  Egypt.     Know  therefore  that  the  Lord  thy  God,  9 
he  is  God  ;  the  faithful  God,  which  keepeth  covenant  and 
mercy  with  them  that  love  him  and  keep  his  command- 
ments to  a  thousand  generations;    and  repayeth  them  10 
that  hate  him  to  their  face,  to  destroy  them  :   he  will  not 
be  slack  to  him  that  hateth  him,  he  will  repay  him  lo 
his  face.     Thou  shalt  therefore  keep  the  commandment,  1 1 
*  See  Ex.  xxxiv.  13.         ^  Or,  ottt  of 

6.  See  Exod.  xix.  5-6,  from  which  this  verse  is  derived.  Israel 
is  here  called  holy,  not  from  any  moral  quality,  but  as  separated, 
and  appropriated  to  Yahweh,  who  has  chosen  this  nation  as  His 
peculiar  people,  xiv.  2  (Heb.  'a  people  of  possession') — i.e. 
His  personal  and  private  property.  Cf.  iv.  20  (*a  people  of 
inheritance').  R.  V.  marg.  'out  of  is  preferable  (cf.  R.V.  text 
of  Exod.  xix.  5). 

8.  redeemed  :  or  *  ransomed.'  The  term  maybe  used  literally 
of  the  payment  of  an  actual  ransom  (Exod.  xiii.  13),  or  figuratively 
of  the  result,  without  regard  to  the  means,  as  here  :  cf.  Hos.  xiii. 
14.  Cf.  iv.  20,  where  the  act  of  deliverance  is  connected  with  the 
choice  of  Israel,  and  Hos.  xi.  i. 

9.  he  is  God,  &c. :  Heb.  '  He  is  the  (true)  God  (iv.  35),  the 
faithful  God,  keeping  the  covenant  and  the  loving-kindness.' 
Cf.  v.  9,  10. 

10.  to  their  face,  i.  e.  personally  :  contrast  v.  9,  where  '  the 
ancestor  with  four  generations  forms  a  solidarity '  (Cook,  Laivs, 
p.  261). 

will  not  be  slack  :  Heb.  '  will  not  delay '  ,  the  requital). 


96  DEUTERONOMY    7.  12-18.     D 

and  the  statutes,  and  the  judgements,  which  I  coromand 
thee  this  day,  to  do  them.  , 

1 3  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  because  ye  hearken  to  these 
judgements,  and  keep,  and  do  them,  that  the  Lord  thy 
God  shall  keep  with  thee  the  covenant  and  the  mercy 

13  which  he  sware  unto  thy  fathers  :  and  he  will  love  thee, 
and  bless  thee,  and  multiply  thee :  he  will  also  bless  the 
fruit  of  thy  body  and  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  thy  corn 
and  thy  wine  and  thine  oil,  the  increase  of  thy  kine  and 
the  young  of  thy  flock,  in  the  land  which  he  sware  unto 

14  thy  fathers  to  give  thee.  Thou  shalt  be  blessed  above 
all  peoples :    there  shall  not  be  male  or  female  barren 

15  among  you,  or  among  your  cattle.  And  the  Lord  will 
take  away  from  thee  all  sickness ;  and  he  will  put  none 
of  the  evil  diseases  of  Egypt,  which  thou  knowest,  upon 
thee,  but  will  lay  them  upon  all  them  that  hate  thee. 

16  And  thou  shalt  consume  all  the  peoples  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  shall  deliver  unto  thee ;  thine  eye  shall  not  pity 
them  :   neither  shalt  thou  serve  their  gods  ;   for  that  will 

1 7  be  a  snare  unto  thee.  If  thou  shalt  say  in  thine  heart, 
These  nations  are  more  than  I ;  how  can  I  dispossess 

18  them?  thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  of  them  :  thou  shalt  well 
remember  what  the  Lord  thy  God  did  unto  Pharaoh, 

vii^  12-26.  The  blessings  of  the  obedient  will  prove  Yahweh's 
fidelity  to  the  covenant  (verses  12-16),  Let  not  Israel  fear  the 
nations  of  Canaan,  for  Yahweh  will  give  victory  as  in  Egypt 
(verses  17-24).  To  Him  must  their  graven  images  be  'devoted' 
(verses  25,  26). 

12  f.  The  thought  of  verse  9  is  emphasized  and  illustrated. 

13.  The  produce  of  Canaan  is  Yahweh's  gift  (not  that  of  the 
local  Baals)  :  cf.  xi.  14. 

14.  Cf.  Exod.  xxiii.  26  f.,  with  which  this  whole  passage  is 
connected. 

15.  the  evil  diseases  of  Eg-ypt  (xxviii.  60  ;  cf.  Exod.  xv.  26)  : 
which  include  elephantiasis,  dysentery,  and  ophthalmia. 

16.  a  suare  uuto  thee :  cf.  verse  25  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  33,  xxxiv.  12. 


DEUTERONOMY   7.  19-25.     D  97 

and  unto  all  Egypt ;   the  great  »  temptations  which  thine  19 
eyes  saw,  and  the  signs,  and  the  wonders,  and  the  mighty 
hand,  and  the  stretched  out  arm,  whereby  the  Lord  thy 
God  brought  thee  out :   so  shall  the  Lord  thy  God  do 
unto  all  the  peoples  of  whom  thou  art  afraid.     Moreover  20 
the  Lord  thy  God  will  send  the  hornet  among  them, 
until  they  that  are  left,  and  ^  hide  themselves,  perish  from 
before  thee.     Thou  shalt  not  be  affrighted  at  them  :   for  21 
the  Lord  thy  God  is  in  the  midst  of  thee,  a  great  God 
and  a  terrible.     And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  cast  out  22 
those   nations   before   thee   by   little  and    little :    thou 
mayest  not  consume  them  c  at  once,  lest  the  beasts  of  the 
field  increase  upon  thee.     But  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  23 
deliver  them  up  before  thee,  and  shall  discomfit  them 
with  a  great  discomfiture,  until  they  be  destroyed.     And  24 
he  shall  deliver  their  kings  into  thine  hand,  and  thou 
shajt  make  their  name  to  perish  from  under  heaven : 
there  shall  no  man  be  able  to  stand  before  thee,  until 
thou  have  destroyed  them.     The  graven  images  of  their  25 
gods  shall  ye  burn  with  fire :    thou  shalt  not  covet  the 
silver  or  the  gold  that  is  on  them,  nor  take  it  unto  thee, 
lest  thou  be  snared  therein :   for  it  is  an  abomination  to 

*  Or,  trials     See  ch.  iv.  34,  and  xxix.  3. 

"  Or,  hide  themselves  front  thee,  perish         ^  Or,  quickly 

19.  temptations:  see  on  iv.  34. 

20.  the  hornet:  Exod.  xxiii.  28;  Joshua  xxiv.  12.  Actual 
hornets  searching  out  hidden  survivors  are  apparently  meant,  as 
is  understood  in  Wisdom  xii.  8  f.  Commentators  refer  to  the  four 
known  species  of  hornets  in  Palestine,  and  the  possibly  fatal 
character  of  an  attack  ;  but  the  reference  is  obscure.    See  on  i.  44. 

22.  See  Exod.  xxiii.  29,  where  the  same  reason  is  given. 

24.  their  kinsfs :  Joshua  xii.  24. 

25.  graven  images  (iv.  16)  :  here  they  are  made  of  wood, 
overlaid  with  precious  metals,  the  latter  alone,  when  stripped  off, 
forming  a  possible  object  of  desire. 

an   abomination   (of  Yahweh)  :   a   phrase  characteristic  of 
this  book  (xii.  31,  xvii.  i,  &c.). 

H 


98  DEUTERONOMY   7.  26—8.  3.     D 

26  the  Lord  thy  God  :  and  thou  shalt  not  bring  an  abomina- 
tion into  thine  house,  and  become  a  devoted  thing  like 
unto  it :  thou  shalt  utterly  detest  it,  and  thou  shalt 
utterly  abhor  it ;  for  it  is  a  devoted  thing. 

8  All  the  commandment  which  I  command  thee  this  day 
shall  ye  observe  to  do,  that  ye  may  live,  and  multiply, 
and  go  in  and  possess  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware 

2  unto  your  fathers.  And  thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  led  thee  these  forty  years 
in  the  wilderness,  that  he  might  humble  thee,  to  prove 
thee,  to  know  what  was  in  thine  heart,  whether  thou 

3  wouldest  keep  his  commandments,  or  no.  And  he 
humbled  thee,  and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee 
with  manna,  which  thou  knewest  not,  neither  did  thy 
fathers  know ;  that  he  might  make  thee  know  that  man 
doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every  thing  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live. 

26.  The  whole  story  of  Achan  (Joshua  vii)  is  the  best  com- 
mentary on  this  verse  ;  a  devoted  thingf:  herem  (on  xx.  17). 

viii.  1-20.  The  discipline  of  the  desert  wanderings  was  meant 
to  teach  Israel  dependence  on  Yahweh  (verses  1-5).  Amid  the 
plenty  of  Palestine  (verses  6-10)  let  not  Him  be  forgotten  on 
whom  Israel  then  depended  so  absolutely  (verses  11-17).  The 
plenty  is  from  Yahweh  ;  if  He  be  forgotten  the  nation  will  perish 
(verses  18-20). 

2.  Amos  ii.  10. 

to  prove  thee :  cf.  vi.  16,  where  the  same  word  is  translated 
'tempt'  by  R.  V.  (cf.  2  Chron.  xxxii.  31).  The  words  are  co- 
ordinate  with  '  to  humble  thee ' ;  i.  e.  the  humiliation  taught 
dependence  (verse  3),  the  proof  of  hardship  tested  character 
(verse  2°). 

3.  manna :  Exod.  xvi.  13  f. ;  supplied  to  Israel,  according  to  P, 
from  the  second  month  of  the  first  year  (Exod.  xvi.  i)  until 
Gilgal  was  reached  (Joshua  v.  12).  It  is  usually  identified  with 
the  exudations  of  tamarisk  twigs,  when  punctured  by  an  insect. 
Others  think  of  a  species  of  stone  lichen,  which  can  be  eaten 
(E.B.  2929). 

thinjf  that  proceedeth  out  of  (one  word  in  Heb.  =  ' utter- 


DEUTERONOMY   8.  4-9.     D  99 

Thy  raiment  waxed  not  old  upon  thee,  neither  did  thy  4 
foot  swell,  these  forty  years.     And  thou  shalt  consider  in  6 
thine  heart,  that,  as  a  man  chasteneth  his  son,  so  the 
Lord  thy  God  chasteneth  thee.     And  thou  shalt  keep  6 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his 
ways,  and  to  fear  him.     For  the  Lord  thy  God  bringeth  7 
thee  into  a  good  land,  a  land  of  brooks  of  water,  of 
fountains  and  depths,  springing  forth  in  valleys  and  hills ; 
a  land  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  vines  and  fig  trees  and  8 
pomegranates ;  a  land  of  oil  olives  and  honey ;   a  land  9 
wherein  thou  shalt  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  thou 
shalt  not  lack  any  thing  in  it ;  a  land  whose  stones  are 

ance ') ;  not  here  in  the  spiritualized  sense  of  Matt.  iv.  4,  where 
the  antithesis  is  between  material  food  and  spiritual  support,  but 
in  the  sense  of  that  which  is  created  by  the  special  command  of 
God  :  i.  e.  the  antithesis  is  that  between  food  supplied  naturally 
and  supernaturally.  Hence  the  emphasis  on  the  unknown  nature 
of  this  manna. 

4.  Cf.  xxix.  5  ;  not  in  the  earlier  narratives,  which  are  here 
amplified  by  the  writer.  The  Jewish  commentator  Rashi  points 
out  that  the  clothes  must  have  grown  with  the  children  who  wore 
them,  '  like  the  shell  of  a  snail '  (ed.  Berliner,  p.  316). 

5.  chasteneth :  or  '  disciplines '  (see  on  iv.  36) ;  as  in  the 
humbling  experiences  of  the  desert.  The  O.  T.  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  Fatherhood  is  well  brought  out  by  Montefiore,  Hibbert 
LecturesVWl.  (*  God  and  Israel.')  The  God  of  Judaism  is  '  no  hard 
and  merciless  taskmaster,  but  a  loving  and  compassionate  Father.. . ; 
the  double  limitation  must  not  be  forgotten.  God's  pitying  Father- 
hood extends  only  to  those  "  who  fear  Him."  Outside  that  barrier 
are  the  heathen  nations  and  the  wicked  within  Israel '  (p,  463). 

6.  The  verse,  resuming  verse  i,  is  transitional,  emphasizing  the 
lesson  of  the  desert  (verses  1-5),  and  warning  against  the  peril 
of  Canaan  (verse  7  f.). 

*r.  'An  attractive  and  faithful  description  of  the  Palestinian 
landscape '  (Driver).  The  depths  are  those  of  the  subterranean 
waters  (iv.  18)  which  feed  the  fountains. 

8.  Cf.  Num.  xiii.  23  ;  Joel  i.  12  ;  Hag.  ii.  19,  &c.  The  cultivated 
oil  olive  is  distinguished  from  the  (wild)  olive,  giving  little  oil. 

9.  whose  stones  are  iron:  probably  the  black  basalt  (iii.  11)  is 
meant,  which  consists  of  one-fifth  part  of  iron,  and  is  still  called 
iron-stone  by  the  Arabs. 

H   2 


loo  DEUTERONOMY    8.  10-18.     D 

10  iron,  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayest  dig  brass.  And 
thou  shalt  eat  and  be  full,  and  thou  shalt  bless  the  Lord 
thy  God  for  the  good  land  which  he  hath  given  thee. 

1 1  Beware  lest  thou  forget  the  Lord  thy  God,  in  not 
keeping  his  commandments,  and  his  judgements,  and  his 

1 2  statutes,  which  I  command  thee  this  day  :  lest  when  thou 
hast  eaten  and  art  full,  and  hast  built  goodly  houses,  and 

13  dwelt  therein;  and  when  thy  herds  and  thy  flocks 
multiply,  and  thy  silver  and  thy  gold  is  multiplied,  and  all 

14  that  thou  hast  is  multiplied;  then  thine  heart  be  lifted 
up,  and  thou  forget  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  brought 
thee  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of 

15  bondage;  who  led  thee  through  the  great  and  terrible 
wilderness,  wherein  were  fiery  serpents  and  scorpions,  and 
thirsty  ground  where  was  no  water;   who  brought  thee 

t6  forth  water  out  of  the  rock  of  flint ;  who  fed  thee  in  the 
wilderness  with  manna,  which  thy  fathers  knew  not; 
that  he  might  humble  thee,  and  that  he  might  prove 

1 7  thee,  to  do  thee  good  at  thy  latter  end :  and  thou  say  in 
thine  heart.  My  power  and  the  might  of  mine  hand  hath 

18  gotten  me  this  wealth.  But  thou  shalt  remember  the 
Lord  thy  God,  for  it  is  he  that  giveth  thee  power  to  get 
wealth;    that  he  may  establish  his  covenant  which  he 

brass :  i.  e.  copper,  which  was  formerly  obtained  from 
Lebanon  and  Edom.  For  a  vivid  description  of  ancient  mining 
operations,  see  Job  xxviii.  i-n. 

15.  fiery  serpents:  Num.  xxi.  6 :  cf.  Isa.  xxx.  6.  There  are 
various  kinds  of  serpents  in  the  districts  traversed  by  Israel ; 
these  are  perhaps  designated  '  fiery '  or  '■  burning '  because  of  the 
inflammation  of  their  bite  (cf.  Gray,  Numbers,  p.  277).  The 
reference  to  scorpions  is  added  by  D  ;  they  are  common  in 
the  same  districts,  and  the  Pass  of  Akrabbim  (Joshua  xv.  3) 
receives  its  name  from  them. 

water  out  of  the  rock  of  flint :  Exod.  xvii.  6, 
yi.  in  thine  heart :  Bertholet  well  compares  Luke  xii.  19  ('  I 
will  say  to  my  soul ').     Deuteronomy  insists  on  the  inwardness  of 
religious  issues  (vi.  5). 


DEUTERONOMY   8.  19-9.  4.     D  loi 

sware  unto  thy  fathers,  as  at  this  day.  And  it  shall  be,  19 
if  thou  shalt  forget  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  walk  after 
other  gods,  and  serve  them,  and  worship  them,  I  testify 
against  you  this  day  that  ye  shall  surely  perish.  As  the  20 
nations  which  the  Lord  maketh  to  perish  before  you,  so 
shall  ye  perish  ;  because  ye  would  not  hearken  unto  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  your  God. 

Hear,  O  Israel :  thou  art  to  pass  over  Jordan  this  day,  9 
to  go  in  to  possess  nations  greater  and  mightier  than 
thyself,  cities  great  and  fenced  up  to  heaven,  a  people  2 
great   and   tall,  the   sons   of  the  Anakim,  whom  thou 
knowest,  and  of  whom  thou  hast  heard  say,  Who  can 
stand  before  the  sons  of  Anak  ?  Know  therefore  this  day,  3 
that  the  Lord  thy  God  is  he  which  goeth  over  before 
thee  as  a  devouring  fire ;   he  shall  destroy  them,  and  he 
shall  bring  them  down  before  thee :   so  shalt  thou  drive 
them  out,  and  make  them  to  perish  quickly,  as  the  Lord 
hath  spoken  unto  thee.     Speak  not  thou  in  thine  heart,  4 
after  that  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  thrust  them  out  from 
before  thee,  saying.  For  my  righteousness  the  Lord  hath 
brought  me  in  to  possess  this  land  :  whereas  for  the  wicked- 
ness of  these  nations  the  Lord  doth  drive  them  out  from 

19.  Other  g-ods:  i.e.  the  local  Baals  of  the  nations  of  Canaan 
(verse  20). 

ix.  1-7.  The  victory  over  mightier  nations  will  be  due  to  Yahweh 
(verses  1-3^  Let  not  Israel  claim  it  as  the  reward  of  righteous- 
ness, since  it  is  due,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  wickedness  of  those 
dispossessed,  on  the  other,  to  Yahweh's  fidelity  to  ancient  promises, 
(verses  4,  5'.  Israel  has  been  disobedient  from  Egypt  to  the  present 
place  (verses  6,  7). 

1,  2.  Cf.  i.  28,  where  see  note  on  Anakim. 

thou  :  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew  in  both  cases.     The  know- 
ledge came  from  the  report  of  the  spies  (Num.  xiii.  28). 

3.  he  :  emphatic  in  each  instance ;  the  victory  is  Yahweh's,  not 
Israel's. 

hath  spoken:  in  Exod.  xxiii.  27,  31. 


I02  DEUTERONOMY  9.  5-8.     D  D« 

5  before  thee.  Not  for  thy  righteousness,  or  for  the 
uprightness  of  thine  heart,  dost  thou  go  in  to  possess 
their  land :  but  for  the  wickedness  of  these  nations  the 
Lord  thy  God  doth  drive  them  out  from  before  thee, 
and  that  he  may  estabHsh  the  word  which  the  Lord 
sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to 

6  Jacob.  Know  therefore,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 
thee  not  this  good  land  to  possess  it  for  thy  righteous- 

7  ness ;  for  thou  art  a  stiffnecked  people.  Remember, 
forget  thou  not,  how  thou  provokedst  the  Lord  thy  God 
to  wrath  in  the  wilderness :  from  the  day  that  thou 
wentest  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  until  ye  came 
unto  this   place,  ye  have  been   rebellious   against   the 

8  Lord.     [D^]  Also  in  Horeb  ye  provoked  the  Lord  to 

6.  a  stiffnecked  people :  Heb.  *  a  people  hard  of  neck '  ; 
Exod.  xxxii.  9,  xxxiii.  3,  5,  xxxiv.  9.  'The  figure  underlying 
the  expression  is  of  course  the  unyielding  neck  of  an  obstinate, 
intractable  animal  (cf.  Isa.  xlviii.  4  'and  a  sinew  of  iron  is  thj' 
neck') '  (Driver). 

ix.  8— X.  II.  Israel's  disobedience  illustrated  from  the  events  at 
Horeb  (verseS).  Moses  received  the  tables  of  stone  after  being  forty 
days  on  Horeb  (verses  9-1 1).  Yahweh,  made  angry  by  the  molten 
calf, declared  to  Moses  his  intention  to  destroy  Israel  (verses  12-14). 
Moses,  confronted  on  his  descent  with  Israel's  sin,  broke  the  tables 
of  stone  (verses  15-17)  and  made  intercession  through  forty  days 
for  Israel  and  Aaron  (verses  18-20).  The  calf  he  destroyed 
(verse  21).  After  reference  to  similar  disobedience  at  other 
places,  especially  Kadesh-barnea  (verses  22-4),  Moses  resumes 
the  story  of  his  intercession  at  Horeb,  and  recalls  his  prayer, 
urging  Yahweh  to  remember  the  tie  between  Israel  and  Himself 
(verses  25-9),  In  reply,  Yahweh  recalled  him  to  the  mount, 
and  gave  him  another  copy  of  the  Decalogue,  which  he  placed, 
on  his  return,  in  the  ark  he  had  made  (x.  1-5).  His  stay  on  the 
mount  the  second  time  was  as  long  as  the  first  (verse  10),  and 
Yahweh  renewed  his  promise  to  Israel  (verse  11). 

This  narrative  is  obviously  interrupted  by  x.  6f.,  which  gives 
part  of  an  itinerary  of  Israel,  and  possibly  also  by  x.  8,  9,  a  note  on 
the  separation  of  the  Levites.  To  a  less  marked  degree,  it  is 
interrupted  by  ix.  22-4,  and  shows  other  signs  of  confusion  (e.  g. 


DEUTERONOMY   9.  9-12     D^  103 

wrath,   and    the   Lord   was    angry   with    you   to   have 
destroyed  you.     When  I  was  gone  up  into  the  mount  to  9 
receive  the  tables  of  stone,  even  the  tables  of  the  covenant 
which  the  Lord  made  with  you,  then  I  abode  in  the 
mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights ;   I  did  neither  eat 
bread  nor  drink  water.     And  the  Lord  delivered  unto  10 
me  the  two  tables  of  stone  written  with  the  finger  of  God ; 
and  on  them  was  written  according  to  all  the  words, 
which  the  Lord  spake  with  you  in  the  mount  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire  in  the  day  of  the  assembly.     And  it  n 
came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty  days  and  forty  nights, 
that  the  Lord  gave  me  the  two  tables  of  stone,  even  the 
tables  of  the  covenant.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  12 
Arise,  get  thee  down  quickly  from  hence ;  for  thy  people 
which  thou  hast  brought  forth  out  of  Egypt  have  corrupted 

themselves ;  they  are  quickly  turned  aside  out  of  the  way 

.^ . 

verses  11  and  13).  Even  apart  from  such  indications  of  a  want  of 
unity,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  original  writer  of  the 
Introduction  to  the  Deuteronomic  Code  would  have  dealt  here 
with  a  single  illustration  at  such  disproportionate  length.  The 
narrative  of  Horeb  appears  to  be  more  closely  related  to  the 
historical  review  (chaps,  i-iii)  than  to  any  other  part  of  Deutero- 
nomy, and,  Hke  it,  is  based  on  JE  (see  the  table  in  Driver,  p.  112). 
There  are  also  linguistic  points  of  contact.  It  is  significant  that 
that  review  is  without  reference  to  the  events  of  Horeb.  This 
has  led  to  the  not  improbable  conjecture  that  ix.  9  f.  originally 
stood  before  i.  6  as  part  of  the  historical  introduction  (D'*),  which 
would  then  begin,  like  the  hortatory  introduction  (v  f.),  with  the 
delivery  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

8.  Summary  of  the  whole  narrative,  linking  it  to  verse  7  :  cf. 
Exod.  xxiv.  12  f.,  xxxi.  i8f..xxxiv,  on  which  this  narrative  is 
based,  to  a  large  extent  verbally. 

9.  Exod.  xxiv.  18,  xxxiv.  28  (the  latter  referring,  however,  to 
a  subsequent  occasion). 

10.  Exod,  xxxi.  18  :  cf.  Deut.  v.  4. 

11.  A  doublet  to  verse  10*,  according  to  which  the  tables  of 
stone  have  already  been  given. 

12.  Exod.  xxxii.  7  :  have  cormpted  themselves,  rather  '  have 
done  corruptly.' 


I04  DEUTERONOMY   9.  13-20.     D'^ 

which  I  commanded  them;    they  have  made  them  a 

13  molten  image.  Furthermore  the  Lord  spake  unto  me^ 
saying,  I  have  seen  this  people,  and,  behold,  it  is  a  stiff- 

14  necked  people  :  let  me  alone,  that  I  may  destroy  them^ 
and  blot  out  their  name  from  under  heaven :  and  I  will 
make  of  thee  a  nation  mightier  and  greater  than  they. 

15  So  I  turned  and  came  down  from  the  mount,  and  the 
mount   burned  with   fire :    and   the  two  tables   of  the 

16  covenant  were  in  my  two  hands.  And  I  looked,  and, 
behold,  ye  had  sinned  against  the  Lord  your  God ;  ye 
had  made  you  a  molten  calf :  ye  had  turned  aside  quickly 
out  of  the  way  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  you. 

17  And  I  took  hold  of  the  two  tables,  and  cast  them  out  of 

18  my  two  hands,  and  brake  them  before  your  eyes.  And 
I  fell  down  before  the  Lord,  as  at  the  first,  forty  days 
and  forty  nights ;  I  did  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink 
water  ;  because  of  all  your  sin  which  ye  sinned,  in  doing 
that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  to  provoke 

19  him  to  anger.  For  I  was  afraid  of  the  anger  and  hot 
displeasure,  wherewith  the  Lord  was  wroth  against  you 
to  destroy  you.     But  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  me  that 

20  time  also.     And  the  Lord  was  very  angry  with  Aaron  to 

13.  Exod.  xxxii.  9.  Piirthermore  is  supplied  by  R.V. ;  Heb. 
<  and.' 

14  f.  Exod.  xxxii.  10,  15,  19  are  largely  reproduced. 

18.  as  at  the  first :  i.  e.  the  intercession  lasted  for  the  same 
time  as  the  sojourn  on  the  mount,  ix.  9,  and  is  identical  with  that 
of  x.  10.  According  to  Exod.  xxxii.  30  f.,  Moses  returned  on  the 
morrow  after  his  discovery  of  the  sin  to  make  intercession  ;  ac- 
cording to  Exod.  xxxiv.  9,  he  again  made  intercession,  within  the 
second  period  of  forty  days  spent  on  the  mount  (xxxiv.  28),  The 
latter  may  be  in  view  here  ;  but  it  ought  to  follow,  not  precede 
verse  21. 

to  provoke  him  to  anfifer  :  delete  '  to  anger,'  as  in  iv.  25. 

19.  that  time  also  :  what  other  occasion  is  meant  is  not  clear  ; 
possibly  the  present  narrative  has  been  condensed,  and  originally 
contained  a  reference  to  the  earlier  intercession  of  Exod.  xxxii.  31. 


DEUTERONOMY   9.  21-27.     D*  105 

have  destroyed  him:   and  I  prayed  for  Aaron  also  the 
same  time.     And  I  took  your  sin,  the  calf  which  ye  had  21 
made,  and  burnt  it  with  fire,  and  stamped  it,  grinding  it 
very  small,  until  it  was  as  fine  as  dust :   and  I  cast  the 
dust  thereof  into  the  brook  that  descended  out  of  the 
mount.    And  at  Taberah,  and  at  Massah,  and  at  Kibroth-  22 
hattaavah,  ye  provoked  the  Lord  to  wrath.     And  when  23 
the  Lord  sent  you  from  Kadesh-barnea,  saying.  Go  up 
and  possess  the  land  which  I  have  given  you ;   then  ye 
rebelled  against  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  your 
God,  and  ye  believed  him  not,  nor  hearkened  to  his 
voice.     Ye  have  been  rebellious  against  the  Lord  from  24 
the  day  that  I  knew  you.     So  I  fell  down  before  the  25 
Lord  the  forty  days  and  forty  nights  that  I  fell  down ; 
because  the  Lord  had  said  he  would  destroy  you.     And  26 
I  prayed  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  O  Lord  God,  destroy 
not  thy  people  and  thine  inheritance,  which  thou  hast 
redeemed  through  thy  greatness,  which  thou  hast  brought 
forth  out  of  Egypt  with  a  mighty  hand.     Remember  thy  27 
servants,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;   look  not  unto  the 
stubbornness  of  this  people,  nor  to  their  wickedness,  nor 

20.  The  prayer  for  Aaron  is  not  mentioned  in  Exodus. 

21.  Exod.  xxxii.  20;  yoTir  sin:  for  this  concrete  usage,  cf. 
Amos  viii.  14,  Mic.  i.  5. 

as  fine  as  dust :  rather  '  crushed  fine  to  dust,'  which  was 
scattered  in  the  Wady ;  according  to  Exodus,  that  the  Israelites 
might  drink  of  it. 

22.  23.  Four  other  examples  of  Israel's  disobedience  are  cited  ; 
Taberah  (Num.  xi.  1-3),  Massah  (Exod.  xvii.  2-7),  Eihroth- 
hattaavah  (Num.  xi.  4-34),  and  Kadesh-barnea  (i.  19  f.)- 

25  resumes  the  account  of  the  intercession  of  verse  18,  and 
replies  to  Yahweh's  words  in  verse  14  ('  destroy  them ').  It 
should  be  noted  that  whilst  this  is  the  second  intercession  (Exod. 
xxxiv.  9),  according  to  the  present  narrative,  its  contents  are 
largely  those  of  the  first  (Exod.  xxxii.  11-13). 

28.  Cf.  Exod.  xxxii.  12  ;  Num.  xiv.  16,  both  of  which  have 
contributed  to  this  verse. 


io6       DEUTERONOMY   9.  38— 10.  7.     D^  E 

28  to  their  sin :  lest  the  land  whence  thou  broughtest  us 
out  say,  Because  the  Lord  was  not  able  to  bring  them 
into  the  land  which  he  promised  unto  them,  and  because 
he  hated  them,  he  hath  brought  them  out  to  slay  them  in 

29  the  wilderness.  Yet  they  are  thy  people  and  thine 
inheritance,  which  thou  broughtest  out  by  thy  great 
power  and  by  thy  stretched  out  arm. 

10  At  that  time  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Hew  thee  two 
tables  of  stone  like  unto  the  first,  and  come  up  unto  me 

2  into  the  mount,  and  make  thee  an  ark  of  wood.  And  I 
will  write  on  the  tables  the  words  that  were  on  the  first 
tables  which  thou  brakest,  and  thou  shalt  put  them  in 

3  the  ark.  So  I  made  an  ark  of  acacia  wood,  and  hewed 
two  tables  of  stone  like  unto  the  first,  and  went  up  into 

4  the  mount,  having  the  two  tables  in  mine  hand.  And  he 
wrote  on  the  tables,  according  to  the  first  writing,  the  ten 
^  commandments,  which  the  Lord  spake  unto  you  in  the 
mount  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire  in  the  day  of  the 

5  assembly  :  and  the  Lord  gave  them  unto  me.  And  I 
turned  and  came  down  from  the  mount,  and  put  the 
tables  in  the  ark  which  I  had  made ;  and  there  they  be, 

6  as  the  Lord  commanded  me.  [E]  (And  the  children  of 
Israel  journeyed  from  ^^  Beeroth  Bene-jaakan  to  Moserah  : 
there  Aaron  died,  and  there  he  was  buried ;  and  Eleazar 
his  son  ministered  in   the  priest's  office  in  his  stead. 

7  From  thence  they  journeyed  unto  Gudgodah ;  and  from 

*  Heb.  words. 

^  Or,  the  wells  of  the  children  of  Jaakan 

X.  1-3.  These  verses  are  condensed  from  Exod.  xxxiv.  i,  2,  4, 
and  expanded  by  the  references  to  the  ark,  not  there  named. 
According  to  Exod.  xxxvii.  i  f.  (xxv.  10  f.)  this  ark  was  made  by 
Bezalel,  after,  not  before,  the  reception  of  the  second  tables  (P). 
The  inconsistency  may  go  back  to  some  narrative  of  JE,  not 
now  extant. 

6,  7.  These  verses  are  clearly  an  interruption  to  the   Horeb 


DEUTERONOMY    10.  S-io.     E  R°  D^        107 

Gudgodah  to  Jotbathah,  a  land  of  brooks  of  water.  [RP]  8 
At  that  time  the  Lord  separated  the  tribe  of  Levi,  to 
bear  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  to  stand  before 
the  Lord  to  minister  unto  him,  and  to  bless  in  his  name, 
unto  this  day.  Wherefore  Levi  hath  no  portion  nor  9 
inheritance  with  his  brethren ;  the  Lord  is  his  inheritance, 
according  as  the  Lord  thy  God  spake  unto  him.)  [D^] 
And  I  stayed  in  the  mount,  as  at  the  first  time,  forty  days  lo 

narrative.  They  are  connected  with  Num.  xxxiii.  31-3  (P), 
where  the  four  names  of  this  itinerary  fragment  occur,  with 
some  variation,  and  in  a  different  order.  They  cannot  be  derived 
from  that  passage,  not  only  because  of  the  differences,  but 
especially  because  they  place  the  death  of  Aaron  at  a  point  and 
place  different  from  those  of  P  (Num.  xx.  22  f.,  on  Mount  Horeb). 
They  are  usually  regarded  as  a  fragment  of  E's  itinerary  (cf., 
e.  g.,  Num.  xxi.  12-15),  both  from  their  form  and  from  the  interest 
in  Eleazar  (Joshua  xxiv.  33,  E).  The  places  named  are  unknown. 
*T^e  passage  is  important,  as  showing  that  in  the  tradition  of  JE, 
not  less  than  in  P,  Aaron  was  the  founder  of  a  hereditary  priest- 
hood '  (Driver,  p.  121). 

8,  9.  The  consecration  of  Levi  to  priestly  duties,  with  priests' 
dues.  It  is  included  in  the  brackets  of  the  R.  V.  as  a  continuation 
of  the  interruption  made  by  verses  6,  7.  It  seems,  however,  to  be 
an  independent  note  connected  with  the  mention  of  the  ark  in 
verse  5. 

8.  At  that  time :  either  of  the  stay  at  Horeb  (verse  5)  or  at 
Jotbathah  (verse  7),  according  to  the  view  taken  of  the  connexion. 

the  tribe  of  Levi  :  to  whom  are  here  given  the  three  priestly 
duties— (a)  to  bear  the  ark,  in  Num.  iv.  i  f.  (P)  the  duty  of  Levites 
(Kohathites)  in  the  narrower  sense,  as  distinct  from  the  priests, 
but  in  Deuteronomic  writers  the  duty  of  the  Levitical  priests 
(Deut.  xxxi.  9 ;  Joshua  viii.  33  :  cf.  Joshua  iii.  3,  vi.  6,  12)  ;  (b)  to 
minister  to  Yahweh  (in  offering  sacrifice),  a  duty  reserved  by  P 
for  the  (Aaronic)  priests  alone  as  distinct  from  the  Levites  (Num. 
iii.  10)  ;  (c)  to  bless  in  His  name,  according  to  P  (Num.  vi.  23)  the 
privilege  of  (Aaronic)  priests  only.     See  on  xviii.  i. 

9.  Yahweh  is  his  inheritance  :  i.  e.  Levi  is  supported  from  the 
sacred  offerings  to  Yahweh,  xviii.  i,  2. 

10.  11.  These  verses  resume  and  conclude  the  Horeb  narrative, 
though  their  present  place  can  hardly  be  original. 

I  stayed :  the  Heb.  would  allow  the  translation  *  I  had 
stayed,'  which  is  required  if  we  relate  the  verse  to  ix.  18,  19.    The 


io8  DEUTERONOMY    10.  11-19.     D^  D 

and  forty  nights  :  and  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  me  that 

1 1  time  also ;  the  Lord  would  not  destroy  thee.  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  me,  Arise,  take  thy  journey  before  the 
people ;  and  they  shall  go  in  and  possess  the  land,  which 
I  sware  unto  their  fathers  to  give  unto  them. 

12  [D]  And  now,  Israel,  what  doth  the  Lord  thy  God 
require  of  thee,  but  to  fear  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in 
all  his  ways,  and  to  love  him,  and  to  serve  the  Lord  thy 

13  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  to  keep  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord,  and  his  statutes,  which 

14  I  command  thee  this  day  for  thy  good  ?  Behold,  unto  the 
Lord  thy  God  belongeth  the  heaven,  and  the  heaven  of 

15  heavens,  the  earth,  with  all  that  therein  is.  Only  the 
Lord  had  a  delight  in  thy  fathers  to  love  them,  and  he 
chose  their  seed  after  them,  even  you  ^  above  all  peoples, 

16  as  at  this  day.     Circumcise  therefore  the  foreskin  of  your 

17  heart,  and  be  no  more  stiffnecked.  For  the  Lord  your 
God,  he  is  God  of  gods,  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  great 
God,  the  mighty,  and  the  terrible,  which  regardeth  not 

18  persons,  nor  taketh  reward.  He  doth  execute  the 
judgement  of  the  fatherless  and  widow,  and  loveth  the 

19  stranger,  in   giving   him   food  and  raiment.     Love  ye 

*  Or,  out  of 

intercession  to  which  Yahweh  hearkened  will  then  be  that  of  ix. 
25-9,  whose  success  is  now  explicitly  stated. 

X.  12-23.  Exhortation  to  respond  to  the  great  God  who  has 
done  such  great  things  for  Israel. 

12.  require:  *  What  is  Yahweh  thy  God  asking  from  thee?' 
Cf.  Mic.  vi.  8,  which  this  verse  recalls. 

16.  Circumcise :  xxx.  6  ;  Jer.  iv,  4  ;  the  figure  is  also  used  of 
the  ear  (Jer.  vi.  10)  and  of  the  lips  (Exod.  vi.  12)  ;  it  is  hardly  drawn 
from  the  physical  operation  (the  unreceptive  heart  being  '  closed 
in,'  Driver),  but  denotes  a  spiritual  and  true  membership  of  Israel 
in  contrast  with  one  based  on  the  outward  sign. 

\*r.  reward  :  *  a  bribe.' 

18,  19.  Three  classes  liable  to  oppression  are  put  under  His 


DEUTERONOMY    10.  30— 11.  4.     D        109 

therefore  the  stranger :  for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land 
of  Egypt.     Thou  shalt  fear  the  Lord  thy  God ;  him  shalt  20 
thou  serve ;    and  to  him  shalt  thou  cleave,  and  by  his 
name  shalt  thou  swear.     He  is  thy  praise,  and  he  is  thy  2 1 
God,  that  hath  done  for  thee  these  great  and  terrible 
things,  which  thine  eyes  have  seen.     Thy  fathers  went  22 
down  into  Egypt  with  threescore  and  ten  persons ;  and 
now  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  made  thee  as  the  stars  of 
heaven  for  multitude. 

Therefore  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  keep  11 
his  charge,  and  his  statutes,  and  his  judgements,  and  his 
commandments,  alway.   And  know  ye  this  day :  iox  Ispeak  2 
not  with  your  children  which  have  not  known,  and  which 
have  not  seen  the  ^  chastisement  of  the  Lord  your  God, 
his  greatness,  his  mighty  hand,  and  his  stretched  out 
arm,  and  his  signs,  and  his  works,  which  he  did  in  the  3 
midst  of  Egypt  unto  Pharaoh  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  unto 
all  his  land ;    and  what  he  did  unto  the  army  of  Egypt,  4 
unto  their  horses,  and  to  their  chariots ;  how  he  made  the 

*  Or,  vistrnctioti 

protection  ;  Israel's  duty  to  the  stranger  is  enforced  like  the  duty 
to  servants  (v.  15),  by  an  appeal  to  experience. 

the  stransrer :  see  on  i.  16 ;  for  the  motive,  cf.  Exod.  xxii. 
21,  xxiii.  9. 

21.  thy  praise:  (Jer.  xvii.  14)  i.  e.  to  be  praised  by  thee  for 
His  deeds. 

for  thee  :  Heb.  '  with  thee  ' ;  with  reference  to  Egypt  (xi.  3). 

22.  Gen.  xlvi.  27  ;  Exod.  i.  5  ;  Deut,  i.  10 ;  a  special  instance 
of  the  Divine  providence. 

xi.   1-9.     Let  the  personal  experience  of  Yahweh's  great  deeds 
prompt  Israel  to  obedience. 

2.  I  speak:  necessarily  supplied  by  R.V.,  because  the  Hebrew 
has  no  verb  to  govern  the  long  sentence  following  (verses  2-6). 

chastisement :  '  discipline '  comes  nearer  the  meaning  of  the 
Heb.  word  than  either  R.V.  or  R.  V.  marg.  (iv.  36,  viii.  5).  Cf. 
the  similar,  though  less  detailed,  review  in  iv.  34  f.  (vi.  22,  vii. 
18).  The  generation  addressed  is  that  which  was  delivered 
from  Egypt. 


no  DEUTERONOMY    11.  5-11.     D 

water  of  the  Red  Sea  to  overflow  them  as  they  pursued 

after   you^  and   how   the   Lord   hath   destroyed   them 

5  unto  this  day  ;  and  what  he  did  unto  you  in  the  wilderness, 

c  until  ye  came  unto  this  place  j   and  what  he  did  unto 

Dathan   and   Abiram,   the  sons  of  Eliab,   the   son   of 

Reuben ;  how  the  earth  opened  her  mouth,  and  swallowed 

them  up,  and  their  households,  and   their  tents,  and 

every  living  thing  that  followed  them,  in  the  midst  of  all 

7  Israel :  but  your  eyes  have  seen  all  the  great  work  of  the 

s  Lord  which  he  did.     Therefore  shall  ye  keep  all  the 

commandment  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  that  ye 

may  be  strong,  and  go  in  and  possess  the  land,  whither 

9  ye  go  over  to  possess  it ;  and  that  ye  may  prolong  your 

days  upon  the  land,  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  your 

fathers  to  give  unto  them  and  to  their  seed,  a  land  flowing 

10  with  milk  and  honey.  For  the  land,  whither  thou  goest 
in  to  possess  it,  is  not  as  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  whence 
ye  came  out,  where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed,  and  wateredst 

1 1  it  with  thy  foot,  as  a  garden  of  herbs  :  but  the  land,  whither 

5.  See  Num.  xvi.  The  omission  of  Korah  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  writer  is  using  JE,  which  did  not  mention  him.  The 
(later)  account  of  P,  which  does,  has  been  interwoven  with  JE 
to  form  the  narrative  of  Num.  xvi. 

xi.  10-17.  Canaan  contrasted  with  Egypt  to  show  its  greater 
dependence  on  Yahweh  for  fertility.  (The  paragraph  division  of 
R.  V.  between  verses  12  and  13  obscures  the  sense.) 

10.  not  as  the  land  of  E^jrpt :  viz.  in  respect  of  irrigation, 
owing  to  the  broken  surface  of  the  country  (verse  11),  which  does 
not  favour  artificial  irrigation  on  a  large  scale. 

wateredst  it  with  thy  foot:  i.e.  possibly  with  a  wheel 
worked  by  the  foot.  The  present  water-wheels  of  Egypt  are 
turned  usually  by  an  ox.  W.  Max  Muller  points  out,  however 
{E.B.,  '  Egypt,'  1226  n.i),  that  the  use  of  the  water-wheel  cannot 
be  proved  for  ancient  Egypt ;  '  most  probably  "  watering  with  the 
foot  "  means  carrying  water.' 

as  a  garden  of  herhs :  (i  Kings  xxi.  a)  i.  e.  a  small  plot  of 
ground  for  which  artificial  irrigation  could  be  employed  in  Palestine. 


DEUTERONOMY    11.  12-17.     D  m 

ye  go  over  to  possess  it,  is  a  land  of  hills  and  valleys,  and 
drinketh  water  of  the  rain  of  heaven  :  a  land  which  the  13 
Lord  thy  God  ^  careth  for  ;  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  thy  God 
are  always  upon  it,  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  year. 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  ye  shall  hearken  diligently  1 3 
unto  my  commandments  which  I  command  you  this 
day,  to  love  the  Lord  your  God,  and  to  serve  him  with 
all  your  heart  and  with  all  your  soul,  that  I  will  give  the  14 
rain  of  your  land  in  its  season,  the  former  rain  and  the 
latter  rain,  that  thou  mayest  gather  in  thy  corn,  and  thy 
wine,  and  thine  oil.    And  I  will  give  grass  in  thy  fields  for  15 
thy  cattle,  and  thou  shalt  eat  and  be  full.     Take  heed  to  16 
yourselves,  lest  your  heart  be  deceived,  and  ye  turn  aside, 
an4  serve  other  gods,  and  worship  them  ;  and  the  anger  1 7 
of  the  Lord  be  kindled  against  you,  and  he  shut  up  the 
*  Heb.  seeketh  after. 

11.  drinketh  water  of  the  rain  of  heaven:  i.  e.  is  dependent 
on  the  rains  of  verse  14  for  its  moisture,  in  contrast  with  Egypt, 
where  rain  is  infrequent  and  agriculture  depends  on  the  inundation 
of  the  Nile,  and  on  connected  systems  of  irrigation.  The  superiority 
of  Canaan,  as  well  as  its  greater  dependence  on  Yahweh,  is 
naturally  implied. 

12.  careth  for.  'The  climate  of  Egypt  is  not  one  which  of 
itself  suggests  a  personal  Providence,  but  the  climate  of  Palestine 
does  so '  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  74).  The  present  passage  is  a  suggestive 
example  of  the  way  in  which  'second  causes'  can  tyrannize  over 
human  imagination.  The  water  of  the  Nile  is  a  natural  gift ;  the 
rain  of  Palestine  a  supernatural. 

14.  the  rain  of  your  land :  i.  e.  not  irregular  showers,  but  the 
rainy  period  of  the  winter,  begun  by  the  heavy  rainfall  of  October 
(the  '  former  rain '),  which  prepares  for  the  agricultural  year,  and 
closed  by  that  of  March  and  April  (the  '  latter  rain  '),  before  the 
summer  drought  begins.  This  division  of  seasons  is  '  the  ruling 
feature  of  the  climate  of  Syria'  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  63 f.),  and  on  its 
regular  occurrence  depend  the  fertility  and  prosperity  of  the  land 
(verse  17). 

17.  The  picture  is  not  overdrawn.  'The  early  rains  or  the 
latter  rains   fail,  drought   comes   occasionally  for  two  years  in 


rr2  DEUTERONOMY    11.  18-24.     D 

heaven,  that  there  be  no  rain,  and  that  the  land  yield  not 
her  fruit ;  and  ye  perish  quickly  from  off  the  good  land 
J  8  which  the  Lord  giveth  you.  Therefore  shall  ye  lay  up 
these  my  words  in  your  heart  and  in  your  soul ;  and  ye 
shall  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  your  hand,  and  they  shall 

19  be  for  frontlets  between  your  eyes.  And  ye  shall  teach 
them  your  children,  talking  of  them,  when  thou  sittest 
in  thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and 

20  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  door  posts  of  thine  house,  and 

21  upon  thy  gates  :  that  your  days  may  be  multiplied,  and 
the  days  of  your  children,  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord 
sware  unto  your  fathers  to  give  them,  as  the  days  of  the 

22  heavens  above  the  earth.  For  if  ye  shall  diligently  keep 
all  this  commandment  which  I  command  you,  to  do  it ; 
to  love  the  Lord  your  God,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and 

23  to  cleave  unto  him ;  then  will  the  Lord  drive  out  all 
these  nations  from  before  you,  and  ye  shall  possess  nations 

24  greater  and  mightier  than  yourselves.  Every  place  where- 
on the  sole  of  your  foot  shall  tread  shall  be  yours :  from 
the  wilderness,  and  Lebanon,  from  the  river,  the  river 
Euphrates,  even  unto  the  ^  hinder  sea  shall  be  your  border. 

*  That  is,  western. 

succession,  and  that  means  famine  and  pestilence '  {op.  cit.,  p.  73). 
For  a  fine  description  of  cause  and  effect  in  agricultural  prosperity, 
see  Hosea  ii.  21,  22. 

xi.  18-25.  The  words  of  Yahweh,  cherished,  taught,  and 
obeyed,  will  bring  victorious  possession  of  the  Promised  Land. 

18-20.  See  on  vi.  6-9,  from  which  these  verses  are  repeated 
with  very  slight  change. 

21.  as  the  days  of  the  heavens  above  the  earth :  i.  e.  so  long 
as  the  (visible)  universe  endures  :  cf.  the  appeal  to  its  permanence 
in  iv.  26. 

24.  Cf.  Joshua  i.  3.  The  wilderness  meant  is  that  south  of 
Palestine,  answering  here,  as  a  boundary,  to  Lebanon  in  the  north, 
whilst  Israel's  ideal  territory  is  to  extend  from  the  Euphrates  in 
the  east  to  the  Mediterranean  in  the  west. 


DEUTERONOMY    11.  25-30.     D  bP        113 

There  shall  no  man  be  able  to  stand  before  you  :  the  25 
Lord  your  God  shall  lay  the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread 
of  you  upon  all  the  land  that  ye  shall  tread  upon,  as  he 
hath  spoken  unto  you. 

Behold,  I  set  before  you  this  day  a  blessing  and  a  26 
curse ;   the  blessing,  if  ye  shall  hearken  unto  the  com-  27 
mandments  of  the  Lord  your  God,  which  I  command 
you  this  day :  and  the  curse,  if  ye  shall  not  hearken  unto  28 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God,  but  turn 
aside  out  of  the  way  which  I  command  you  this  day,  to 
go  after  other  gods,  which  ye  have  not  known. 

[R^]  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  thy  29 
God  shall  bring  thee  into  the  land  whither  thou  goest  to 
possess  it,  that  thou  shalt  set  the  blessing  upon  mount 
Gefizira,  and  the  curse  upon  mount  Ebal.     Are  they  not  3o 
beyond  Jordan,  behind  the  way  of  the  going  down  of  the 

25.  as  lie  liath  spoken  :  Exod.  xxiii.  27. 

xi.  26-32.  The  alternatives  of  obedience  and  disobedience  are 
those  of  a  blessing  and  a  curse  (verses  26-8).  These  shall  be 
solemnly  recognized  at  the  centre  of  Israel's  future  land  (verses 
29-32).  (The  blessing  and  the  curse  are  expanded  in  chap,  xxviii.) 

28.  wMch  ye  have  not  known :  the  Baals  of  Canaan  have  no 
share  in  the  intimate  relation  hitherto  existing  between  Yahweh 
and  Israel. 

29.  set  the  blessing  upon :  give  it  ceremonial  sanction  there, 
as  is  described  in  xxvii.  11  f.,  with  which  passage  verses  29, 30  are 
to  be  connected  (hence  assigned  to  RP), 

Gerizim  .  .  .  Ebal :  probably  chosen  because  the  ancient 
sanctuary  of  Shechem  (Joshua  xxiv.  32)  lay  in  the  valley  between 
them.  The  simplest  explanation  of  the  assignment  of  the  blessing 
and. curse  respectively  is  that  Ebal  lay  to  the  north,  i.  ?.  on  the 
Hebrew  '  left,'  and  Gerizim  to  the  south,  the  Hebrew  '  right.' 
That  the  latter  was,  as  amongst  other  peoples,  regarded  as  aus- 
picious, in  contrast  with  the  ill-omened  left,  is  shown  by  the 
Hebrew  name  '  Benjamin,'  or  'son  of  the  right  hand'  (Gen.  xxxv. 
1 8,  R.  V.  marg.). 

30.  the  way  of  the  ffoingf  down  of  the  sun :  i.  e.  the  chief 

I 


IT4        DEUTERONOMY  11.  31— 12.  r.  R^  D 

sun,  in  the  land  of  the  Canaanites  which  dwell  in  the 
Arabah,  over  against  Gilgal,  beside  the  ^  oaks  of  Moreh  ? 

31  [D]  For  ye  are  to  pass  over  Jordan  to  go  in  to  possess 
the  land  which  the  Lord  your  God  giveth  you,  and  ye 

32  shall  possess  it,  and  dwell  therein.  And  ye  shall  observe 
to  do  all  the  statutes  and  the  judgements  which  I  set 
before  you  this  day. 

12  These  are  the  statutes  and  the  judgements,  which  ye 
shall  observe  to  do  in  the  land  which  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  thy  fathers,  hath  given  thee  to  possess  it,  all  the 

*  Or,  terebinths 


western  road,  running  from  south  to  north,  and  passing  east  of 
Shechem,  which  is  therefore  *  behind '  it  (cf.  verse  24). 

whicli  dwell  in  the  Ara"balx :  the  reference  is  obscure,  since 
the  'Arabah  (i.  i,  R.  V.  marg.)  is  remote  from  Shechem. 

over  against  Oilg'al :  hardly  the  Gilgal  near  Jericho  j 
possibly  the  '  circle  '  (of  stones)  in  connexion  with  Shechem. 

tlie  oaks  of  Moreli:  or  'the  terebinth  (sing,  in  LXX)  of  the 
teacher'  (giver  of  oracles)  (see  Joshua  xxiv.  26  for  the  sacred 
stone  and  sacred  tree  at  Shechem). 

xii-xxv.  At  this  point  we  pass  to  the  Code  of  Laws,  which  falls 
into  three  main  sections  : 
I.    The  Law  of  the  Central  Sanctuary,  with  its  related  ordinances, 
xii.  I — xvi.  17  (with  xvi.  21 — xvii.  7). 
IL     Laws  relating  to  persons  in  authority  (judges,  king,  priests, 

prophets),  xvii.  8— xviii.  22  (with  xvi.  18-20). 
III.    Miscellaneous  Laws,  xix-xxv  (not  admitting,  in  their  present 
order,  of  further  classification^). 

xii.  I  -28.  The  Fundamental  Law  of  the  Single  Sanctuary.  For 
the  central  place  and  primary  importance  of  this  section,  see 
Introd.  p.  10  (The  Reformation  of  Josiah),  p.  36  f. 

Title  (verse  i).  Destruction  of  the  Canaanite  places  of  worship 
(verses  2,  3).  Yahweh  is  to  be  worshipped  at  one  place  only 
(verses  4-7).  The  present  individual  liberty-is-to  be  abandoned 
(verses  8-10'  that  all  offerings  in  Canaan  may  be  made  at  the  one 
place  verses  11,  12).  Repetition,  in  vaiied  form,  of  the  law  of 
a  single   sanctuary    (verses   13,   14%     Animals  for  food  may  be 

*  Driver  (p.  135)  takes  xix  and  xxi.  1-9  to  form  a  section, 
'Criminal  Law.' 


DEUTERONOMY  12.  2,  3.     D  115 

days  that  ye  live  upon  the  earth.  Ye  shall  surely  destroy  2 
all  the  places,  wherein  the  nations  which  ye  shall  possess 
served  their  gods,  upon  the  high  mountains,  and  upon 
the  hills,  and  under  every  green  tree  :  and  ye  shall  3 
break  down  their  altars,  and  dash  in  pieces  their  *  pillars, 
and  burn  their  Asherim  with  fire;  and  ye  shall  hew 
*  Or,  obelisks 

killed  and  their  flesh  eaten  anywhere,  though  not  the  blood 
(verses  15,  16").  But  the  substance  of  tithe,  vow,  or  offering  is  to 
be  eaten  at  the  one  place  only  (verses  17-19).  Repetition,  in 
a  varied  form,  of  the  permission  to  kill  for  food  locally,  though 
the  blood  must  be  poured  away  (verses  20-5) ;  whilst  all  sacred 
rites  must  be  performed  at  the  one  central  sanctuary  (verses 
26-8). 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  section  contains  more  than 
on^  version  of  the  same  law. 

2.  all  tlie  places:  i.  e.  the  sacred  places,  or  sanctuaries,  like 

*  the  place  of  Shechem  '  (Gen.  xii.  6)  or  of  Bethel  (xiii.  3),  called 

*  the  place  of  the  altar '  (verse  4)  or  the  '  place  '  where  Abraham 
proposed  to  sacrifice  Isaac  (xxii.  3).  The  corresponding  Arabic 
word  for  '  place '  is  used  similarly  of  a  sanctuary.  The  much  more 
usual  word  employed  to  designate  these  local  sanctuaries  is  that 
rendered  *  high  place'  {bdmdh),  such  sanctuaries  being  originally 
upon  the  hig'li  mountains  and  upon  tlie  hills.  For  the  relation 
of  such  a  high  place  to  a  particular  town  or  district,  see,  e.g., 
I  Sam.  ix.  10-25. 

served  their  gods :  most  of  these  local  sanctuaries  were 
those  of  the  Canaanites,  adopted  by  Israel  after  the  conquest  of 
Canaan.  How  far  Israel  actually  worshipped  the  local  Baals  at 
these  sanctuaries  is  uncertain  ;  what  is  clear  is  that  the  worship 
of  Yahweh  was  practised  at  them  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Deuteronomic  Reformation,  and  after  its  initial  failure  (Exod.  xx. 
24-6,  Mn  every  place'  ;  i  Kings  xix.  10,  'thine  altars'  ;  Amos 
and  Hosea,  passim^  where  it  is  the  contamination  of  the  worship 
of  Yahweh  by  (surviving)  Canaanite  associations  that  is  attacked, 
not  the  localization  of  the  worship  away  from  the  Temple). 

under  every  green  tree :  or  '  spreading '  tree  ;  for  the 
sacred  trees  often  growing  at  these  '  places,'  see  Joshua  xxiv.  26  ; 
I  Sam.  xxii.  6  ;  Hos.  iv.  13,  (S.'c. 

3.  pillars  {mazzeboth)  :    the  artificial  sacred  stones.    See   on 
xvi.  22. 

Asherim:  the  wooden  posts,  representing  the  sacred  tree. 
See  on  xvi.  21. 

I    2 


ii6  DEUTERONOMY  12.  4-6.     D 

down  the  graven  images  of  their  gods ;   and  ye  shall 

4  destroy  their  name  out  of  that  place.      Ye  shall  not  do 

5  so  unto  the  Lord  your  God.  But  unto  the  place  which 
the  Lord  your  God  shall  choose  out  of  all  your  tribes  to 
put  his  name  there,  even  unto  his  habitation  shall   ye 

6  seek,  and  thither  thou  shalt  come  :  and  thither  ye  shall 
bring  your  burnt  offerings,  and  your  sacrifices,  and  your 
tithes,  and  the  heave  offering  of  your  hand,  and  your 
vows,  and  your  freewill  offerings,  and  the  firstlings   of 

These,  with  the  altar  (see  on  verse  2),  and  in  some  cases  the  idol 
('Hos.  viii.  6),  the  usual  accompaniments  of  the  'high  place,'  are  to 
be  so  completely  destroyed  that  the  very  memory  (*  their  name  ') 
of  the  local  Baals  is  to  cease  (contrast  verse  5,  '  his  name '). 
Bertholet  illustrates  by  the  later  Jewish  modification  of  proper 
names  containing  the  element  '  Baal ' ;  e.  g.  Ish-baal  became  Ish- 
bosheth. 

5.  the  place  which  Yahweh  your  God  shall  choose:  i.e. 
Jerusalem,  as  often  in  this  book  (cf.  i  Kings  viii.  44,  48,  by 
a  Deuteronomic  writer).  The  earliest  mention  of  Jerusalem  is  in 
the  Tell  el-Amarna  Tablets,  c.  1400  b.c,  where  it  appears  as  the 
fortified  capital  of  a  small  district.  After  the  Israelite  invasion  it 
remained  for  a  long  time  in  the  hands  of  the  Canaanites,  till 
captured  by  David  (2  Sam.  v.  6,  7).  He  brought  up  the  ark  of 
Yahweh  to  a  tent,  and  on  the  threshing-floor  of  Araunah  the 
Jebusite,  which  he  bought  (2  Sam.  xxiv.  i8f.\  Solomon's  Temple 
was  built.  There  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  there  of  an 
earlier  sanctuary. 

S.  burnt  offering's :  viz.  as  systematized  in  Lev.  i,  those  of 
cattle,  sheep  and  goats,  birds,  whose  blood  was  dashed  or  drained 
out  against  the  side  of  the  altar,  whilst  the  whole  of  the  flesh 
was  burnt  upon  it.     Cf.  Exod.  x.  25,  &c. 

sacrifices :  specially  of  the  thank-  or  peace-oflfering  (Exod.  xx. 
24),  as  the  most  frequent  form  of  sacrifice.  The  flesh  of  cattle, 
sheep,  or  goats  was  eaten  by  the  worshippers  at  a  sacrificial  meal 
of  communion  with  the  deity — except  the  fat  offered  on  the  altar 
and  the  priest's  portion. 

tithes  :  see  on  xiv.  22. 

heave  offering"  of  yoitr  hand :  personal  contributions ;  not 
something  elevated  in  presentation,  but '  lifted  off'  a  larger  quantity, 
like  first-fruits  and  other  voluntary  offerings. 

vows  .  .  .  freev/ill  offering's :  belonging  to  special  occasions, 
firstlings :  cf.  xv.  19-22. 


DEUTERONOMY  12.  7-12.     D  117 

your  herd  and  of  your  flock  :    and  there  ye  shall  eat  7 
before  the  Lord  your  God,  and  ye  shall  rejoice  in  all 
that  ye  put  your  hand  unto,  ye  and  your  households, 
wherein  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  blessed  ihee.     Ye  shall  8 
not  do  after  all  the  things  that  we  do  here  this  day, 
every  man  whatsoever  is  right  in  his  own  eyes  :  for  ye  9 
are  not  as  yet  come  to  the  rest  and  to  the  inheritance, 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee.     But  when  ye  go  10 
over  Jordan,  and  dwell  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  your 
God  causeth  you  to  inherit,  and  he  giveth  you  rest  from 
all  your  enemies  round  about,  so  that  ye  dwell  in  safety  ; 
then  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  the  place  which  the  Lord  ii 
your  God  shall  choose  to  cause  his  name  to  dwell  there, 
thither  shall  ye  bring  all  that  I  command  you;   your 
burnt  offerings,  and  your  sacrifices,  your  tithes,  and  the 
heave  offering  of  your  hand,   and  all  your  choice  vows 
which  ye  vow  unto  the  Lord  :  and  ye  shall  rejoice  before  12 
the   Lord   your   God,    ye,   and    your   sons,   and   your 
daughters,  and  your  menservants,  and  your  maidservants, 
and  the  Levite  that  is  within  your  gates,  forasmuch  as  he 

*t.  The  sacrificial  meal  (verse  6,  '  sacrifices ')  of  the  family 
group  :  cf.  verse  i8,  xiv.  23,  xv.  20.  For  the  important  place  of 
this  act  of  communioPx  in  Semitic  religion,  see  especially/?^/.  Sem., 
Lect.  vii.  The  emphasis  of  Deuteronomy  on  joy  in  worship 
agrees  with  the  omission  of  any  reference  above  to  the  sin-offering 
or  guilt-offering  of  Lev.  iv  and  v  (Introd.,  p.  38  note). 

8.  Cf.  Amos  V.  25.  It  need  hardly  be  pointed  out  that  the 
writer  knows  nothing  of  the  elaborate  wilderness-ritual  of  P. 

10.  rest  froir-  all  your  enemies  :  not  gained,  as  a  matter  of 
history,  till  the  age  of  David  and  Solomon,  which  may  be  in  view 
here  (2  Sam.  vii.  i  ;  i  Kings  viii.  56). 

11.  The  verse  implies  that  the  law  of  the  single  sanctuary  was 
not  meant  to  come  into  operation  till  the  time  was  ripe  for  build- 
ing the  Temple  (cf.  i  Kings  iii.  2). 

yonr  choice  vows :   i.  e.  choice  substance  offered  to  fulfil 
a  vow. 

12.  the  Levite  (cf.  x.  9) :  i.  e.  the  original  priest  of  the  local 


ii8  DEUTERONOMY  12.  13-17.     D 

13  hath  no  portion  nor  inheritance  with  you.  Take  heed 
to  thyself  that  thou  offer  not  thy  burnt  offerings  in  every 

14  place  that  thou  seest :  but  in  the  place  which  the  Lord 
shall  choose  in  one  of  thy  tribes^  there  thou  shalt  offer  thy 
burnt  offerings,  and  there  thou  shalt  do  all  that  I  command 

15  thee.  Notwithstanding  thou  may  est  kill  and  eat  flesh 
within  all  thy  gates,  after  all  the  desire  of  thy  soul, 
according  to  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  thy  God  which  he 
hath  given  thee :    the  unclean  and  the  clean  may  eat 

16  thereof,  as  of  the  gazelle,  and  as  of  the  hart.  Only  ye 
shall  not  eat  the  blood ;  thou  shalt  pour  it  out  upon  the 

17  earth  as  water.     Thou  mayest  not  eat  within  thy  gates 

sanctuary,  now  deprived  of  his  livelihood  (xviii.  6-8),  and  fre- 
quently commended  in  this  book  to  the  care  of  Israel  (verse  18, 
xiv.  27,  29,  xvi.  II,  14,  xxvi.  11). 

within  your  gates :  i.  e.  throughout  your  cities  (a  character- 
istic phrase  of  Deuteronomy). 

15.  thou  mayest  kill:  the  Hebrew  verb  means  either  to 
sacrifice  or  to  kill,  the  fact  being  that  all  slaughter  of  domestic 
animals  was  originally  sacrificial,  their  flesh  being  eaten  on  com- 
paratively rare  occasions  at  a  sacrificial  meal  (see  on  verse  6). 
This  sacrificial  act  could  be  performed  at  a  sanctuary  only  so  long 
as  one  was  close  at  hand  ;  the  centralization  of  all  sacrificial  acts 
at  Jerusalem  involved  the  recognition  of  slaughter  for  food  as 
non-sacrificial  (cf.  Rel.  Sent.,  p.  238).  A  fuller  explanation  is 
given  by  verse  20  f. 

after  all  the  desire  of  thy  soul :  the  soul  {nephesh),  originally 
the  breath,  as  the  principle  of  life,  tends  to  be  specialized  in  later 
Hebrew  psychology  as  the  principle  of  emotion  and  sensation, 
especially  hunger  (as  here).  The  higher  cognitive  and  conative 
elements  of  conscious  life  were  ascribed  to  the  heart. 

the  unclean  and  the  clean :  i.  e.  in  a  ceremonial  sense 
(i  Sam.  XX.  26),  since  the  act  was  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as 
sacrificial,  but  such  flesh  was  to  be  treated  like  game  (as  of  the 
gazelle,  and  as  of  the  hart :  cf.  xiv.  5),  i.  e.  under  a  non-sacrificial 
classification. 

16.  blood:  see  Introd.,  p.  24  ;  the  blood  of  the  slain  animal  is 
still  regarded  as  too  mysterious  and  '  sacred  '  to  be  consumed  ; 
hence,  for  want  of  an  altar  at  which  to  dispose  of  it  with  safety, 
it  is  poured  on  the  ground  (cf.  Rel.  Sem.,  p.  234  f.\ 

17.  The  permission  for  the  local  consumption  of  flesh  does  not 


DEUTERONOMY  12.  18-23.     D  119 

the  tithe  of  thy  corn,  or  of  thy  wine,  or  of  thine  oil,  or 
the  firsthngs  of  thy  herd  or  of  thy  flock,  nor  any  of  thy 
vows  which  thou  vowest,  nor  thy  freewill  offerings,  nor 
the  heave  offering  of  thine  hand  :  but  thou  shalt  eat  18 
them  before  the  Lord  thy  God  in  the  place  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  shall  choose,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and  thy 
daughter,  and  thy  manservant,  and  thy  maidservant,  and 
the  Levite  that  is  within  thy  gates  :  and  thou  shalt  rejoice 
before  the  Lord  thy  God  in  all  that  thou  puttest  thine 
hand  unto.  Take  heed  to  thyself  that  thou  forsake  not  19 
the  Levite  as  long  as  thou  livest  upon  thy  land. 

When  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  enlarge  thy  border,  as  20 
he  hath  promised  thee,  and  thou  shalt  say,  I  will  eat 
flesh,  because  thy  soul  desireth  to  eat  flesh ;  thou  mayest 
eat  flesh,  after  all  the  desire  of  thy  soul.     If  the  place  21 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to  put  his  name 
there  be  too  far  from  thee,  then  thou  shalt  kill  of  thy 
herd  and  of  thy  flock,  which  the  Lord  hath  given  thee, 
as  I  have  commanded  thee,  and  thou  shalt  eat  within  thy 
gates,    after   all   the   desire  of  thy  soul.     Even  as  the  22 
gazelle  and  as  the  hart  is  eaten,  so  thou  shalt  eat  thereof: 
the  unclean  and  the  clean  shall  eat  thereof  alike.     Only  23 
be  sure  that  thou  eat  not  the  blood  :  for  the  blood  is  the 

apply  to  tithes  (xiv.  22  f.),  firstlings  (xv.  igf.)?  or  other  sacred 
offerings. 

20.  enlarg-e  thy  border  :  cf.  xix.  8  ;  v^^ith  reference  to  the 
acquisition,  not  of  Canaan  (verse  i),  but  of  the  ideal  territory  of 
i.  7,  xi.  24  (Dillmann).  For  the  actual  extent  of  the  Josianic 
kingdom,  see  Introd.,  p.  37. 

I  will  eat  flesh :  implying  that  this  is  no  everyday  occurrence 
(see  on  verse  15).     Cf.  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta,  i.  p.  452. 

23.  sure :  Heb,  '  strong ' ;  reference  to  i  Sam.  xiv.  3a  will 
show  how  hunger  might  overcome  a  primitive  superstition  ;  but 
the  use  of  blood  in  magical  rites  may  also  be  in  view. 

the  blood  is  the  life:  cf.  Gen.  ix.  4  ;  Lev.  xvii.  11,  14.     See 
Introd.,  p.  24. 


I20  DEUTERONOMY  12.  24-30.     D 

life;    and   thou   shalt  not  eat  the  life  with  the  flesh. 

24  Thou  shalt  not  eat  it ;  thou  shalt  pour  it  out  upon  the 

25  earth  as  water.  Thou  shalt  not  eat  it ;  that  it  may  go 
well  with  thee,  and  with  thy  children  after  thee,  when 
thou  shalt  do  that  which  is  right  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord. 

26  Only  thy  holy  things  which  thou  hast,  and  thy  vows, 
thou  shalt  take,  and  go  unto  the  place  which  the  Lord 

27  shall  choose :  and  thou  shalt  offer  thy  burnt  offerings, 
the  flesh  and  the  blood,  upon  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  :  and  the  blood  of  thy  sacrifices  shall  be  poured  out 
upon  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  thou  shalt  eat 

28  the  flesh.  Observe  and  hear  all  these  words  which  I 
command  thee,  that  it  may  go  well  with  thee,  and  with 
thy  children  after  thee  for  ever,  when  thou  doest  that 
which  is  good  and  right  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  thy  God. 

29  When  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  cut  off  the  nations 
from  before  thee,  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  them, 
and  thou  possessest  them,  and  dwellest  in  their  land ; 

30  take  heed  to  thyself  that  thou  be  not  ensnared  ^  to  follow 

*  Heb.  after  them. 


27.  See  on  verse  6. 

xii.  29 — xiii.  18.  Laws  against  Solicitation  to  the  Cults  of  Canaan, 
General  warning  against  the  assimilation  of  the  worship  of  Yahweh 
to  that  of  the  gods  of  Canaan  (verses  29-31).  If  a  prophet  urges 
the  claims  of  these  gods,  his  teaching  is  to  be  rejected,  though  it 
is  substantiated  by  foretold  signs  ;  and  the  man  himself  is  to  be 
put  to  death  (xii.  32 — xiii.  5).  Even  a  relative  or  friend,  secretly 
soliciting  to  their  worship,  is  to  be  denounced  and  stoned  to  death 
(verses  6-1 1).  The  city  that  listens  to  such  soUcitations  shall  be 
devoted  to  Yahweh,  its  inhabitants  being  slaughtered,  and  its  spoil 
burnt  without  exception  (verses  12-18). 

30.  ensnared :  partly,  no  doubt,  by  the  ancient  belief  that  the 
god  of  a  district  must  be  worshipped  there,  and  in  the  local  manner 
(i  Sam.  xxvi.  19 ;  2  Kings  xvii.  25-8) ;  partly,  also,  by  the  fascination 
exercised  over  men  in  all  ages  by  novel  means  of  contact  with  the 
supernatural  world. 


DEUTERONOMY  12.  31— 13.  3.    D  121 

them,  after  that  they  be  destroyed  from  before  thee ; 
and  that  thou  inquire  not  after  their  gods,  saying.  How 
do  these  nations  serve  their  gods  ?  ^  even  so  will  I  do 
likewise.  Thou  shalt  not  do  so  unto  the  Lord  thy  31 
God  :  for  every  abomination  to  the  Lord,  which  he 
hateth,  have  they  done  unto  their  gods ;  for  even  their 
sons  and  their  daughters  do  they  burn  in  the  fire  to 
their  gods. 

^What  thing  soever  I  command  you,  that  shall  ye  32 
observe  to  do :  thou  shalt  not  add  thereto,  nor  diminish 
from  it. 

If  there  arise  in  the  midst  of  thee  a  prophet,   or  a  13 
dreamer  of  dreams,  and  he  give  thee  a  sign  or  a  wonder, 
aad  the  sign  or  the  wonder  come  to  pass,  whereof  he  2 
spake  unto  thee,  saying,  Let  us  go  after  other  gods,  which 
thou  hast  not  known,  and  let  us  serve  them ;  thou  shalt  3 
not  hearken  unto  the  words  of  that  prophet,  or  unto  that 
dreamer  of  dreams  :  for  the  Lord  your  God  proveth  you, 

*  Or,  that  I  also  may  do  likewise  ^  [Ch.  xiii.  i  in  Heb.] 

Religious  reformers  have  alwa3's  recognized  the  perils  of 
syncretism  of  the  forms  of  worship  ;  by  the  transference  or 
acceptance  of  an  alien  form  the  alien  idea  finds  easy  entrance. 

31.  abomination :  cf.  vii.  25  ;  practically  a  technical  term  for 
acts  of  idolatry,  though  also  used  in  the  ethical  sphere  (xxv.  16  ; 
Lev.  xviii.  22). 

burn  in  the  fire  (2  Kings  xvi.  3,  xvii.  31,  &c.)  :  see  note  on 
xviii.  ID  for  this  form  of  child-sacrifice. 

32.  This  verse  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.)  relates  to  the  three  following 
cases  (chap,  xiii)  of  solicitation  to  heathen  worship. 

xiii.  1.  a  dreamer  of  dreams.  The  prophet  is  conceived  as 
receiving  his  message  by  vision  or  dream  (Num.  xii.  6).  In 
Jer.  xxiii.  28,  however,  the  prophecy  nourished  on  dreams  is 
distinguished  from  the  ethical  and  spiritual  message  of  Jeremiah 
himself. 

a  sigfn  or  a  wonder  :  such  as  Isaiah  offers  Ahaz  (Isa.  vii.  11) 
to  substantiate  his  message. 

3.  proveth  you  (viii.  2,  16),  &c.  :  *  is  putting  you  to  the  test  to 


122  DEUTERONOMY  13.  4-6.     D 

to  know  whether  ye  love  the  Lord  your  God  with  all 

4  your  heart  and  with  all  your  soul.  Ye  shall  walk  after 
the  Lord  your  God,  and  fear  him,  and  keep  his  com- 
mandments, and  obey  his  voice,  and  ye  shall  serve  him, 

5  and  cleave  unto  him.  And  that  prophet,  or  that  dreamer 
of  dreams,  shall  be  put  to  death;  because  he  hath 
spoken  » rebellion  against  the  Lord  your  God,  which 
brought  you  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  redeemed 
thee  out  of  the  house  of  bondage,  to  draw  thee  aside  out 
of  the  way  which  the  Lord  thy  God  commanded  thee  to 
walk  in.  So  shalt  thou  put  away  the  evil  from  the  midst 
of  thee. 

6  If  thy  brother,  the  son  of  thy  mother,  or  thy  son,  or 
thy  daughter,  or  the  wife  of  thy  bosom,  or  thy  friend, 
which  is  as  thine  own  soul,  entice  thee  secretly,  saying, 

^  Heb.  turning  aside. 


know  whether  you  do  (emph.)  love '  (Driver)  ;  i.  e.  whether  your 
relationship  to  Yahv^reh  is  of  such  a  character  that  it  can  defy  even 
*  supernatural '  evidence  against  His  revealed  will.  The  passage 
is  important  for  the  biblical  doctrine  of  miracle  (cf.  Mozley, 
Lectures  on  the  O.  71,  p.  33)  ;  with  it  should  be  compared  Paul's 
warning  to  the  Galatians  not  to  receive  another  gospel  though  an 
angel  preached  it  (Gal.  i.  8)  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Christ's 
refusal  to  give  external  signs  of  His  truth  (Mark  viii.  11  f.),  which 
He  based  primarily  on  moral  experience  (John  vii.  17)  and 
practical  discernment  (Matt.  xvi.  3). 

5.  put  away :  consume  or  exterminate  (as  by  burning) ;  the 
phrase  '  consume  the  evil  from  the  midst '  is  characteristic  of 
Deuteronomy,  in  which  it  occurs  seven  times,  all  except  once  of 
the  death  sentence. 

6  f.  The  second  example  of  solicitation,  which  is  of  a  private 
character  ('secretly,'  verse  6;  'conceal,'  verse  8).  Even  the 
closest  personal  ties  must  not  protect  the  would-be  idolater  from 
unsparing  denunciation  and  death  (cf  xxxiii.  9). 

the  son  of  thy  mother  (Ps.  1.  20)  :  not,  of  course,  a  superfluous 

addition  to  '  brother'  in  the  household  of  several  wives  (xxi.  15). 

thy  friend,  which  is  as  thine  own  soul :  the  same  phrase 

occurs  in  one  of  the  two  classical  examples  of  O.  T.  friendship 


DEUTERONOMY  13.  7-12.     D  123 

Let  us  go  and  serve  other  gods,  which  thou  hast  not 
known,  thou,  nor  thy  fathers  ;  of  the  gods  of  the  peoples  7 
which  are  round  about  you,  nigh  unto  thee,  or  far  ofif 
from  thee,  from  the  one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the 
other  end  of  I   ^  earth  ;  thou  shalt  not  consent  unto  him,  8 
nor  hearken  unto  him ;  neither  shall  thine  eye  pity  him, 
neither  shalt  thou  spare,  neither  shalt  thou  conceal  him  : 
but  thou   shalt  surely  kill  him ;    thine  hand  shall   be  9 
first  upon  him  to   put   him   to   death,  and   afterwards 
the  hand  of  all  the  people.     And  thou  shalt  stone  him  10 
with   stones,  that  he  die ;    because  he  hath  sought  to 
draw  thee  away  from  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  brought 
thee   out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the   house   of 
bondage.     And  all  Israel  shall  hear,  and  fear,  and  shall  11 
do^no  more  any  such  wickedness  as  this  is  in  the  midst 
of  thee. 

If  thou  shalt  hear  tell  ^  concerning  one  of  thy  cities,  la 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  to  dwell  there, 
^  Or,  in 

(i  Sam.  xviii.  i)  ;  whilst,  in  the  other,  it  is  the  worshipper  of 
Yahweh  who  wins  over  the  worshipper  of  Kemosh  (Ruth  i.  16). 
?.  far  off:  the  Assyrians  (2  Kings  xvi.  10,  xxi.  3^,  'the  host 
of  heaven  '  :  cf.  Deut.  iv.  19)  are  probably  meant ;  for  religious 
influences  nearer  at  hand,  see  i  Kings  xi.  5,  7. 

9.  thine  hand  shall  he  first  (xvii.  7)  :  i.  e.  in  the  public  in- 
fliction of  the  death  penalty  of  verse  10.  The  convicting  witness 
must  bear  the  initial  responsibility  of  the  act,  cost  him  what  sorrow 
it  may. 

10.  Stoning  was  the  only  recognized  form  of  capital  punishment 
in  Hebrew  law  (Benzinger,  in  E.B.  2722).  Its  adoption  may  be 
due  partly  in  order  to  avoid  literal  blood-shedding  (to  any  marked 
degree),  and  partly  to  keep  down  the  dead  man's  spirit  by  the 
pile  of  stones  cast  on  his  body. 

12  f.  The  third  case  of  solicitation  supposes  it  to  have  been 
successful,  so  that  a  city  is  tainted  with  heathen-worship. 

hear  tell  concerning:  read  as  in  R.  V.  marg.  ;  the  words 
'in  one  of  thy  cities,'  &c.,  are  placed  before  'saying'  for  greater 
emphasis,  though  actually  part  of  what  is  said. 


124  DEUTERONOMY  13.  13-18.     D 

13  saying,  Certain  ^  base  fellows  are  gone  out  from  the  midst 
of  thee,  and  have  drawn  away  the  inhabitants  of  their  city, 
saying,  Let  us  go  and  serve  other  gods,  which  ye  have  not 

14  known;  then  shalt  thou  inquire,  and  ma^^e  search,  and 
ask  diligently ;  and,  behold,  if  it  be  truth,  and  the  thing 
certain,  that  such  abomination  is  wrought  in  the  midst 

15  of  thee;  thou  shalt  surely  smite  the  inhabitants  of  that 
city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  ^  destroying  it  utterly, 
and  all  that  is  therein  and  the  cattle  thereof,  with  the 

16  edge  of  the  sword.  And  thou  shalt  gather  all  the  spoil 
of  it  into  the  midst  of  the  street  thereof,  and  shalt  burn 
with  fire  the  city,  and  all  the  spoil  thereof  ^  every  whit, 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God :  and  it  shall  be  an  ^  heap  for 

17  ever;  it  shall  not  be  built  again.  And  there  shall  cleave 
nought  of  the  devoted  thing  to  thine  hand  :  that  the 
Lord  may  turn  from  the  fierceness  of  his  anger,  and  shew 
thee    mercy,    and    have    compassion    upon    thee,    and 

18  multiply  thee,  as  he  hath  sworn  unto  thy  fathers ;  when 
thou  shalt  hearken  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God, 
to  keep  all  his  commandments  which  I  command  thee 

*  Heb.  sons  of  worth lessness.  **  Heb.  devoting  it. 

'^  Or,  as  a  whole  burnt  offering        ^  Or,  mound    Heb.  tel. 


13.  base  fellows:  the  Hebrew  word  for  ' worthlessness ' 
(R.  V.  marg.)  is  'belial,'  which  in  2  Cor.  vi.  15  has  developed  into 
a  proper  name  for  the  devil.  These  men  have  gone  out  from 
the  midst  of  Israel,  i.  e.  are  themselves  Israelites. 

16.  spoil:  included  in  the  herem,  which  is  of  the  severest 
type,  like  that  on  Jericho  (Joshua  vi.  24).      See  on  xx.  17. 

street :  '  broad  place,'  like  our  '  market-place  '  or  *  village- 
green.' 

every  whit.  The  Hebrew  word,  kalil,  means  '  entire  '  or 
'whole,'  and  is  also  used  specially  of  a  'holocaust'  or  sacrifice 
consumed  wholly  upon  the  altar  (xxxiii.  10) ;  here  in  the  latter 
sense  (R.  V.  marg.). 

an  heap  for  ever :  like  Ai  (Joshua  viii  28)  or  Rsbbah  (Jer. 
xlix.  Sv. 


DEUTERONOMY  14.  i,  2.     D  125 

this  day,  to  do  that  which  is  right  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord  thy  God. 

Ye  are  the  children  of  the  Lord  your  God  :  ye  shall  14 
not  cut  yourselves,  nor  make  any  baldness  between  your 
eyes  for  the  dead.     For  thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  2 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  the  Lord  hath  chosen  thee  to 
be  a  peculiar  people  unto  himself,  »  above  all  peoples  that 
are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

*  Or,  out  of 

xiv.  1-2 1.  The  holiness  of  Israel  is  to  be  maintained  by  ab- 
stention from  cuttings  for  the  dead  (verses  i,  2),  from  eating  the 
flesh  of  certain  animals  (verses  3-8),  fishes  (verses  g,  10),  and 
birds  (verses  11-20),  and  from  other  practices  (verse  21)  un- 
worthy of  the  people  of  Yahweh. 

The  central  part  of  this  section  (verses  4-20)  stands  in  close 
relation  to  Lev.  xi.  2-23,  with  which  it  agrees  verbally  to  a  large 
extent.  The  general  character  of  the  list  disconnects  it  from  D 
and  relates  it  to  P,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  phrase  '  after  its 
kind,'  which  is  characteristic  of  P.  It  is  disputed,  however, 
whether  Deuteronomy  here  depends  on  Leviticus,  or  vice  versa. 

1.  cut  yourselves:  cf.  Lev.  xix.  28  (xxi.  5,  of  the  priests). 
It  is  clear  from  Jer.  xvi.  6  (cf  xli.  5,  xlvii.  5)  that  mourners  cut 
themselves  for  the  dead  as  part  of  the  ordinary  funeral  ceremonies 
of  the  time,  so  that  the  present  law,  even  if  belonging  to  the 
original  Law-book,  was  not  observed.  Such  mutilations  occur 
amongst  many  primitive  peoples  (examples  in  Rel.  Sent.,  p.  322  f.), 
and  their  object  appears  to  be  to  maintain  blood-communion,  or 
a  blood-covenant,  with  the  dead.  Similar  cuttings  were  made  by 
the  heathen  priests  opposed  by  Elijah  (i  Kings  xviii.  28),  to 
establish  the  blood-bond  with  their  deity. 

make  any  baldness  between  your  eyes  :  the  hair-ofifering  at 
the  grave  is  another  widespread  custom,  with  similar  intent  ;  the 
hair,  like  the  blood,  is  a  special  seat  of  vitaUty.  The  custom  is 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  O.  T.  as  a  natural  feature  of  mourning 
(Amos  viii.  10;  Isa.  xv.  2,  xxii.  12;  Mic.  i.  16;  Jer.  xvi.  6; 
Ezek.  vii.  18),  the  shaved  patch  '  between  the  eyes '  (i.  e.  on  the 
forehead)  corresponding  to  the  mourner's  hatband  in  this  country  ; 
whilst  the  cuttings  on  the  hands  (Jer.  xlviii.37)  were  doubtless  as 
conventional  a  sign  of  mourning  as  black  gloves.  The  former 
practice  is  forbidden  to  the  priests  in  Lev.  xxi.  5  ;  other  develop- 
ments of  the  hair-offering  are  illustrated  by  the  Nazirite's  vow 
(Num.  vi.  18),  and  the  vow  of  Paul  ^Acts  xviii.  18),  and  the  priestly 


126  DEUTERONOMY  14.  3-8.     D  P  ? 

4  Thou  shalt  not  eat  any  abominable  thing.  [P  ?]  These 
are  the  beasts  which  ye  shall  eat :  the  ox,  the  sheep,  and 

5  the  goat,  the  hart,  and  the  gazelle,  and  the  roebuck,  and 
the  wild  goat,  and  the  pygarg,  and  the  antelope,  and  the 

6  chamois.  And  every  beast  that  parteth  the  hoof,  and 
hath  the  hoof  cloven  in  two,  and  S'cheweth  the  cud, 

7  among  the  beasts,  that  ye  shall  eat.  Nevertheless  these 
ye  shall  not  eat  of  them  that  chew  the  cud,  or  of  them 
that  have  the  hoof  cloven  :  the  camel,  and  the  hare,  and 
the  ^  coney,  because  they  chew  the  cud  but  part  not  the 

8  hoof,  they  are  unclean  unto  you  :  and  the  swine,  because 
he  parteth  the  hoof  but  cheweth  not  the  cud,  he  is  un- 

*  Heb.  bringeth  up.  **  See  Lev.  xi.  5. 


tonsure  of  ancient  and  modern  times.     Similar  practices  among; 
the  early  Arabs  are  described  by  Wellhausen  {Resfe,  p.  i8i). 

3.  abominable  thing- :  the  same  word  as  in  vii.  25  ('  abomina- 
tion'). 'No  single  principle,  embracing  satisfactorily  all  the 
cases,  seems  yet  to  have  been  found  ;  and  not  improbably  more 
principles  than  one  co-operated'  (Driver,  p.  164).  Probably  certain 
animals  had  come  to  be  preserved  as  a  religious  duty  (totemism), 
or  were  connected  with  heathen  rites  (Ezek.  viii.  10)  ;  others 
may  have  been  considered  as  repulsive  in  themselves. 

4f.  The  translation  of  the  more  unfamiliar  names  is  often 
uncertain,  and  usually  follows  the  suggestions  of  the  ancient 
versions.     The  list  of  ten  clean  beasts  is  not  given  in  Lev.  xi.  2  f. 

5.  pygfargf:  i.e.  'white-rump,'  the  name  of  a  species  of 
antelope,  mentioned  by  Herodotus  (iv.  192)  as  found  in  Libya. 

clianiois:  the  word  (occurring  here  only)  probably  denotes 
some  kind  of  mountain  sheep,  rather  than  the  chamois,  which 
belongs  to  Central  Europe. 

6  f.  Two  characteristics  of  the  *  clean '  class  are  noted — (a)  the 
division  of  the  hoof,  (6)  the  bringing  up  the  cud  ;  one  only  of 
these  may  belong  to  animals  in  the  unclean  class  (verses  7,  8),  viz, 
(h)  to  the  camel,  hare,  rock-badger  (R.  V.  marg.),  and  (a)  to  the 
swine.  Coney  is  the  Old-English  word  for  'rabbit'  (cf.  Ps.  civ. 
18  ;  Prov.  XXX.  26).  '  Neither  the  rock-rabbit  nor  the  hare  really 
chews  the  cud,  but  the  movements  which  they  often  make  with 
their  mouths  give  them  the  appearance  of  ruminating'*  {S.B.O.T., 
Lev.,  p.  74). 


DEUTERONOMY  14.  9-17.      P  ?  127 

clean  unto  you  :  of  their  flesh  ye  shall  not  eat,  and  their 
carcases  ye  shall  not  touch. 

These  ye  shall  eat  of  all  that  are  in  the  waters  :  what-  9 
soever  hath  fins  and  scales  shall  ye  eat :  and  whatsoever  10 
hath  not  fins  and  scales  ye  shall  not  eat ;  it  is  unclean 
unto  you. 

Of  all  clean  birds  ye  may  eat.  But  these  are  they  of  n, 
which  ye  shall  not  eat :  the  ^  eagle,  and  the  gier  eagle,  and 
the  ospray ;  and  the  glede,  and  the  falcon,  and  the  kite  1 3 
after  its  kind;  and  every  raven  after  its  kind;  and  the  14, 
ostrich,  and  the  night  hawk,  and  the  seamew,  and  the 
hawk  after  its  kind ;  the  little  owl,  and  the  great  owl,  16 
and  the  horned  owl ;  and  the  pelican,  and  the  vulture,  17 

»  See  Lev.  xi.  13,  &c. 


9,  10.  This  general  classification  of  fishes  is  stated  at  greater 
length  in  Lev.  xi.  9-12. 

12.  eagle:  R.  V.  marg.  suggests  'great  vulture.'  There  are 
four  species  of  vultures  and  eight  of  eagles  in  Palestine.  The 
Arabic  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  word  here  {nesher)  covers  all 
these  generically,  but  the  biblical  usage  of  the  word  (Mic.  i.  16, 
'enlarge  thy  baldness  as  the  nesher')  shows  that  the  griffon  or 
great  vulture  is  meant,  which  is  without  feathers  on  the  head  and 
neck  (see  Post  in  D.B.  s.  v.  '•  Eagle  '). 

gler  eagle  :  the  bearded  vulture,  largest  of  all. 
ospray:  the  short-toed  eagle  :  '  It  is  the  most  abundant  of  the 
eagle  tribe  in  Palestine '  (Post,  /.  c). 

13.  the  g'lede,  and  tlie  falcon,  and  the  kite :  read  '  >he  kite 
and  the  falcon,'  and  omit  'glede,'  which  is  simply  a  guess  at 
a  word  which  does  not  elsewhere  occur,  and  is  almost  certainly 
due  to  a  scribal  error  (cf.  Lev.  xi.  14,  supported  here  by  the 
ancient  versions).  *  Glede '  is  itself  an  old  name  for  the  kite, 
retained  from  A.  V. 

after  its  kind  (P)  :  i.  e.  as  a  generic  name,  including  various 
species. 

16.  horned  owl:  others,  after  LXX,  as  'waterhen.'  Reasons 
for  rejection  of  the  A.  V.  'swan'  are  given  by  Post  {D.B.  s.  v. 
'Swan'). 

17.  vulture:  'carrign-vulture,'  known  as  ^  Pharaoh's  hen.' 


128  DlUTERONOMY  14.  18-21.     P?D 

18  and  the  corm)rant ;  and  the  stork,  and  the  heron  after  its 

19  kind,  and  the  hoopoe,  and  the  bat.  And  all  winged 
creeping  things  are  unclean  unto  you  :  they  shall  not  be 

20  eaten.     Of  all  dean  fowls  ye  may  eat. 

21  [D]  Ye  shall  lot  eat  of  any  thing  that  dieth  of  itself: 
thou  mayest  give  it  unto  the  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates,  that  he  may  eat  it ;  or  thou  mayest  sell  it  unto  a 
foreigner  :  for  thoi  art  an  holy  people  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God.  Thou  slalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  its  mother's 
milk. 


cormorant:  some  knd  of  plunging  bird  is  meant;  the 
cormorant  is  an  expert  dier,  and  '  is  common  along  the  coast, 
coming  up  the  Kishon  and  Tisiting  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  It  is  hke- 
wise  abundant  along  the  Joiian '  (D.B.  s.  v.). 

18.  heron:  a  conjecture,  »n  the  ground  that  the  heron  belongs 
to  the  same  group  as  the  ston. 

19.  creeping:  < swarming';  winged  swarming  things  are 
insects  that  fly. 

20.  fowls :  the  Hebrew  woid  is  wider  than  the  English,  and 
denotes  winged  creatures  in  geieral.  Some  kinds  of  locusts  are 
here  included  :  cf.  Lev.  xi.  21,  21. 

21.  thing"  that  dieth  of  itself:  one  word  in  Hebrew,  rendered 
*  carcase '  in  verse  8 ;  the  ground  oi  objection  to  it  is  that  the  blood 
has  not  been  drained  out,  as  the  ccntext  of  Lev.  xvii.  15  implies. 
The  verse  suggests  to  the  English  -eader  a  cynical  disregard  for 
the  health  of  the  '  stranger ' ;  but  <;his  does  not  belong  to  the 
Hebrew  law,  which  merely  points  o\t  that  the  '  stranger '  is  free 
from  the  ceremonial  obligations  of  the  Israelite,  without  reference 
to  the  selfish  disposal  of  diseased  meat 

stranger :  see  on  i.  16.  Theger  is'iere  distinguished  from  the 
nokhri  (xv.  3),  or  '  foreigner,'  who  is  no  a  settled  resident  like  the 
ger,  bute.  g.  a  foreign  trader.  The  verse  should  be  compared  with 
Exod.  xxii.^  31  (J E),  where  it  is  said  that  fl-sh  torn  of  beasts  is  to  be 
given  to  the  dogs  ;  and  Lev.  xvii.  15,  wher-  both  kinds  of  flesh  are 
forbidden  to  both  IsraeHtes  and  settled  *  svrangers '  (cf.  Exod.  xii. 
49,  P),  the  latt'er  class  being  practically  '  p-oselytes.' 

seethe  (boil).  The  same  law  is  fouid  in  Exod.  xxiii.  19, 
xxxiv.  26 ;  in  b6th  cases  it  is  named  in  connexion  with  the 
offering  of  the  f^stfruits,  which  suggests  ..  reference  to  some 
harvest  rite  (note  verse  22  f.).     Robertson  Sr>ith,  who  states  that 


DEUTERONOMY  14.  22-24.     D  129 

Thou  shalt  surely  tithe  all  the  increase  of  thy  seed,  22 
that  which  cometh  forth  of  the  field  year  by  year.     And  23 
thou  shalt  eat  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  in  the  place 
which  he  shall  choose  to  cause  his  name  to  dwell  there, 
the  tithe  of  thy  corn,  of  thy  wine,  and  of  thine  oil,  and 
the  firstlings  of  thy  herd  and  of  thy  flock  ;   that  thou 
mayest  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  thy  God  always.     And  if  24 
the  way  be  too  long  for  thee,  so  that  thou  art  not  able  to 
carry  it,  because  the  place  is  too  far  from  thee,  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to  set  his  name  there,  when 

that  milk  is  here  (as  elsewhere)  regarded  as  equivalent  to  blood 
' Kel.  Sent.,  p.  221  n.).  Here  some  heathen  rite  for  promoting 
fertility  of  the  field  by  the  breach  of  a  primitive  taboo  seems  to  be 
meant.  _ 

xiv.  22-29.  The  Law  of  Tithes.  The  tithe  of  all  the  produce  of 
the  ground,  together  vi^ith  the  firstlings,  is  to  be  eaten  at  the  central 
sanctuary  (verses  22-3).  Its  value  may  be  realized  in  money  and 
expended  tJiere  according  to  choice,  if  the  distance  is  too  great  for 
the  transference  of  the  tithe  in  kind  (verses  24-6).  The  Levite 
is  not  to  be  forgotten  in  this  family  feast  (verse  27).  Every  third 
year's  tithe,  however,  is  to  be  devoted  to  dependent  classes  of  the 
particular  district  (verses  28,  29). 

22.  tithe.  The  payment  of  a  tenth  was  frequent  amongst  many 
peoples  (references  in  Moore's  art.  'Tithes,'  E.B.,  for  Greeks, 
Romans,  Carthaginians,  Egyptians,  Syrians,  Sabaeans,  Lydians, 
Babylonians,  and  Chinese).  The  tithe  was  devoted  by  the  early 
Hebrews  to  secular,  i.  e.  royal  (i  Sam.  viii.  15, 17  :  cf.  Amos  vii.  i)  or 
religious  1  Amos  iv.  4  :  cf.  Gen.  xxviii.  22)  purposes.  The  earliest 
Semitic  sacred  tithe  of  which  we  know,  that  of  the  Carthaginians 
sent  to  Tyre,  was  both  political  and  religious  {Rel.  Sem.,  p.  246). 
The  priest  would  naturally  receive  something  from  all  tithe  offered 
at  a  temple  to  the  deity;  he  would  share,  e.  g.,  in  the  family  feast 
prescribed  by  the  present  law.  This  is,  however,  to  be  clearly 
distinguished  from  the  later  law  of  Num.  xviii.  21  (P),  which 
claimed  the  whole  tithe  for  the  Levites.  For  a  full  discussion  of 
their  relation,  see  Driver,  pp.  168-73.  Cattle  are  not  tithed  by 
this  law  (contrast  Lev.  xxvii.  32). 

23.  See  on  xii.  5,  7  ;  consumption  is  now  transferred  from  the 
local  (Amos  iv.  4"^^  to  the  central  sanctuary. 

flrstUngrs :  included  here  incidentally ;  for  the  law  relating 
to  them,  see  xv.  19-23. 


130         DEUTERONOMY  14.  25—I5.  i.     D 

35  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bless  thee :  then  shalt  thou  turn 
it  into  money,  and  bind  up  the  money  in  thine  hand, 
and  shalt  go  unto  the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God 

26  shall  choose  :  and  thou  shalt  bestow  the  money  for  what- 
soever thy  soul  desireth,  for  oxen,  or  for  sheep,  or  for 
wine,  or  for  strong  drink,  or  for  whatsoever  thy  soul 
asketh  of  thee:  and  thou  shalt  eat  there  before  the 
Lord  thy  God,  and  thou  shalt  rejoice,  thou  and  thine 

27  household :  and  the  Levite  that  is  within  thy  gates,  thou 
shalt  not  forsake  him  ;  for  he  hath  no  portion  nor  inherit- 
ance with  thee. 

28  At  the  end  of  every  three  years  thou  shalt  bring  forth 
all  the  tithe  of  thine  increase  in  the  same  year,  and  shalt 

29  lay  it  up  within  thy  gates :  and  the  Levite,  because  he 
hath  no  portion  nor  inheritance  with  thee,  and  the 
stranger,  and  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow,  which  are 
within  thy  gates,  shall  come,  and  shall  eat  and  be 
satisfied ;  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all 
the  work  of  thine  hand  which  thou  doest. 

15      At  the  end  of  every  seven  years  thou  shalt  make  a 


25.  turn  it  Into  money  :  a  concession  necessitated  by  the  new 
law  of  the  one  sanctuary. 

bind  up  the  money :  i.  e.  in  a  purse  :  cf.  Gen.  xlii.  35 
('  bundle,'  the  Heb.  word  for  purse,  being  related  to  the  verb 
*  bind '). 

28.  At  the  end  of  every  three  years :  i.  e.  the  tithe  of  the 
third  year  is  devoted  wholly  to  charity  (cf.  xxvi,  ts). 

bringf  forth  .  .  .  lay  up  :  i.  e.  this  tithe  is  collected  from  indi- 
vidual Israelites  and  deposited  in  a  common  store  for  its  specific 
use — the  sustenance  of  the  more  or  less  dependent  classes  named 
here,  and  often  elsewhere  in  this  book  (xvi.  11,  14,  xxiv.  17, 19-21, 
xxvi.  12,  13). 

XV.  1-18.  The  Year  of  Release.  Every  seventh  year  shall  be 
*a  release  to  Yahweh'  ;  the  creditor  shall  let  drop  his  claim  to 
what  has  been  lent  to  a  fellow  Israelite  (verses  1-3).  If  Israel  is 
obedient,  this  law  will  not  be  required,  for  Israel  will  lend,  not 


DEUTERONOMY  15.  2.     D  131 

release.  And  this  is  the  manner  of  the  release :  every  a 
creditor  shall  release  that  which  he  hath  lent  unto  his 
neighbour ;  he  shall  not  exact  it  of  his  neighbour  and 
his  brother ;  because  the  Lord's  release  hath  been  pro- 
borrow  (verses  4-6).  Further,  the  Israelite  is  not  to  let  the 
thought  of  this  year's  proximity  hinder  him  from  helping  his  needy 
brother  (verses  7-11). 

Slavery,  in  the  case  of  an  Israelite,  is  to  be  limited  by  the  same 
term  ;  in  the  seventh  year  the  Hebrew  slave  is  to  be  set  free 
with  liberal  provision  for  his  needs  (verses  12-15).  If.  however, 
he  choose  to  remain,  his  ear  shall  be  pierced  as  a  sign  of  the 
permanent  bond  now  constituted  (verses  16-18). 

Cf.  the  law  of  Exod.  xxiii.  10,  11  (JE),  according  to  which  land 
is  to  lie  fallow  in  the  seventh  year  (the  spontaneous  produce  of 
that  year  to  be  for  the  poor),  and  the  similar  law  of  Lev.  xxv. 
1-7  (H),  known  as  that  of  '  the  Sabbatical  year.'  The  suspension 
of  agriculture  in  the  seventh  year,  it  has  been  thought,  would  make 
necessary,  in  many  cases,  some  such  provision  as  this  for  the 
suspension  of  debt-claims  in  that  year.  {The  former  law  appears 
to  be  one  form  of  a  widespread  resumption  of  the  rights  of  the 
community  in  land).  It  is  possible,  however,  that  this  law  is 
intended  to  take  the  place  of  that  in  Exod.  xxiii.  10,  11,  rather 
than  to  supplement  it. 

1.  At  the  end  of  every  seven  yeaxs:  i.e.  in  the  seventh 
year  as  rounding  off  this  period.  This  will  be  seen  from  Jer. 
xxxiv.  14,  where  '  at  the  end  of  seven  years '  clearly  implies  that 
six  years  only  have  elapsed. 

a  release :  lit  '  a  letting  drop,'  as  is  seen  from  the  use  of 
the  corresponding  verb  in  2  Kings  ix.  33  (death  of  Jezebel ; 
R.  V.  '  throw  her  down  ')  and,  figuratively,  as  here,  in  Exod.  xxiii. 
II  (R.  V.  marg.). 

2.  the  IiOBD'S  release  :  '  a  release  (in  honour)  of  Yahweh ' : 
cf.  Lev.  xxv.  4,  *  in  the  seventh  year  shall  be  a  sabbath  of  complete 
rest  for  the  land,  a  sabbath  to  Yahweh.'  The  fact  that  this  is 
proclaimed  shows  that  it  is  intended  to  be  celebrated  throughout 
the  land  at  one  and  the  same  time.  It  is,  however,  very  difficult 
to  decide  what  is  released  or  'let  drop.'  Is  it  the  debt  itself, 
which  is  then  wholly  cancelled  by  this  year  of  release  ?  Or  is  it 
simply  a  temporary  release  from  the  obligation  to  repay  during 
the  seventh  year  ?  The  most  recent  commentators  are  divided  on 
this  point.  Dillmann,  followed  with  considerable  hesitation  by 
Driver,  takes  the  latter  view,  on  the  ground  that  the  former  would 
be  impracticable  and  that  the  law  connects  with  Exod.  xxiii.  10, 
II,  where  it  is  the  use  of  the  land  for  the  seventh  year  that  is 

K   2 


13^  DEUTERONOMY  15.  3-8.     D 

3  claimed.  Of  a  foreigner  thou  mayest  exact  it :  but 
whatsoever   of  thine  is  with  thy   brother    thine    hand 

4  shall  ^  release.  Howbeit  there  shall  be  no  poor  with  thee  ; 
(for  the  Lord  will  surely  bless  thee  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for   an  inheritance   to 

5  possess  it ;)  if  only  thou  diligently  hearken  unto  the  voice 
of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  observe  to  do  all  this  command- 

6  ment  which  I  command  thee  this  day.  For  the  Lord 
thy  God  will  bless  thee,  as  he  promised  thee :  and  thou 
shalt  lend  unto  many  nations,  but  thou  shalt  not 
borrow;  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  many  nations,  but 
they  shall  not  rule  over  thee. 

7  If  there  be  with  thee  a  poor  man,  one  of  thy  brethren, 
within  any  of  thy  gates  in  thy  land  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  giveth  thee,  thou  shalt  not  harden  thine  heart,  nor 

8  shut  thine  hand  from  thy  poor  brother :  but  thou  shalt 
surely  open  thine  hand  unto  him,  and  shalt  surely  lend 

*  Or,  release :  save  when  there  Ac. 


suspended.  Steuernagel  and  Bertholet  hold  the  former  view,  on 
the  ground  that  the  law  plainly  relates  to  charitable  loans,  not 
business  investments,  and  that  the  requirement  that  the  loan 
should  become  a  gift  in  such  a  case  is  not  so  unnatural  as  it  might 
seem.  This  view  seems  more  probable ;  its  utter  impracticability 
for  business  relations  was  easily  evaded  by  the  later  Jews  through 
a  legal  fiction. 

3.  a  foreiGfuer :  i.  e.  the  nokhri,  not  the  settled  ger  (see  on  xiv. 
21),  who  stands  in  much  closer  relation  to  Israel. 

4.  R.  V.  marg.  says  that  the  law  of  release  is  not  operative 
when  there  is  no  poverty.  R.  V.  text  states  categorically  that 
there  shall  be  no  poverty,  before  introducing  the  limitation  of 
verse  5.  The  latter  is  more  natural,  though  as  an  expression  of 
an  ideal  it  is  literally  inconsistent  with  verse  11,  the  statement 
of  actual  conditions. 

with  thee  :  '  in  thee '  ;  i,  e.  in  thy  midst. 
*rt.  The  new  paragraph  deals  with  the  practical  difficulty  at 
once  raised  by  the  law — that  a  loan  on  the  eve  of  the  yew  of 
release  is  tantamount  to  a  gift. 


DEUTERONOMY  15.  9-12.     D  133 

him  sufficient  for  his  need  in  that  which  he  wanteth. 
Beware  that  there  be  not  a  base  thought  in  thine  heart,  9 
saying,  The  seventh  year,  the  year  of  release,  is  at  hand ; 
and  thine  eye  be  evil  against  thy  poor  brother,  and  thou 
give  him  nought ;  and  he  cry  unto  the  Lord  against  thee, 
and  it  be  sin  unto  thee.     Thou  shalt  surely  give  him,  10 
and  thine  heart  shall  not  be  grieved  when  thou  givest 
unto  him  :    because  that  for  this  thing  the  Lord  thy 
God  shall  bless  thee  in  all  thy  work,  and  in  all  that  thou 
puttest  thine  hand  unto.     For  the  poor  shall  never  cease  1 1 
out  of  the  land  :  therefore  I  command  thee,  saying.  Thou 
shalt  surely  open  thine  hand  unto  thy  brother,  to  thy 
needy,  and  to  thy  poor,  in  thy  land. 

If  thy  brother,  an  Hebrew  man,  or  an  Hebrew  woman,  1 2 

9.  thine  eye  be  evil :  xxviii.  54,  56.  The  evil  eye  is  primarily 
the  envious  or  grudging  eye  (Matt.  xx.  15).  Primitive  thought 
credits  the  peripheral  organs  w^ith  actual  psychical  and  ethical 
qualities,  though  our  knowledge  of  the  nervous  system  leads  us  to 
interpret  such  expressions  as  figurative. 

cry  unto  Yaliweh :  Exod.  xxii.  23  ;  the  spoken  word  has 
a  power  of  its  own. 

sin  unto  thee  ;  (xxiv.  15)  Heb.  '  in  thee ' ;  so  R.V.  in  xxiii.  22. 
It  is  diflficult  to  conceive  that  the  strong  language  of  this  verse 
can  relate  simply  to  a  question  of  deferred  payment  ;  indeed 
Benzinger  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  verse  9  *  makes  it  impossible 
to  interpret  the  law  as  meaning  merely  that  repayment  of  the  debt 
is  postponed  for  a  year '  {E.B.  2727).     Cf.  '  givest '  in  verse  10. 

12  f.  For  the  parallel  law  in  JE,  see  Exod.  xxi.  2-6  ;  Lev.  xxv. 
39-46  (H  and  P)  gives  a  later  law,  according  to  which  the 
Israelite  is  not  to  be  a  slave  at  all,  but  a  hired  ser\'ant,  and 
released  in  the  year  of  Jubile.  Foreigners  only  are  to  be  slaves 
for  life. 

On  Semitic  slavery  in  general,  see  S.  A.  Cook,  The  Laws  of 
Moses,  chap.  vii.  For  the  parallel  law  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi, 
see  Introd.,  p.  22.  That  the  present  law  was  by  no  means  uniformly 
observed  is  shown  by  Jer.  xxxiv,  8  f. 

an  Hebrew  woman :  explicitly  excluded  from  the  sphere  of 
this  law  by  Exod.  xxi.  7  ;  the  older  law  allowed  even  the  wife  of 
the  slave  to  go  out  with  him  only  if  she  entered  servitude  with 
him,  as  his  wife  already.    Deuteronomy,  in  placing  the  Hebrewcss 


134  DEUTERONOMY  15.  13-18.     D 

be  sold  unto  thee,  and  serve  thee  six  years ;  then  in  the 
seventh  year  thou  shalt  let  him   go  free  from   thee. 

1 3  And  when  thou  lettest  him  go  free  from  thee,  thou  shalt 

14  not  let  him  go  empty  :  thou  shalt  furnish  him  liberally 
out  of  thy  flock,  and  out  of  thy  threshing-floor,  and  out  of 
thy  winepress  :   as  the  I^ord  thy  God  hath  blessed  thee 

15  thou  shalt  give  unto  him.  And  thou  shalt  remember 
that  thou  wast  a  bondman  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the 
Lord  thy  God  redeemed  thee  :   therefore  I  command 

16  thee  this  thing  to-day.  And  it  shall  be,  if  he  say  unto 
thee,  I  will  not  go  out  from  thee  ;  because  he  loveth  thee 

17  and  thine  house,  because  he  is  well  with  thee ;  then  thou 
shalt  take  an  awl,  and  thrust  it  through  his  ear  unto  the 
door,  and  he  shall  be  thy  '^  servant  for  ever.     And  also 

18  unto  thy  ^  maidservant  thou  shalt  do  likewise.  It  shall 
not  seem  hard  unto  thee,  when  thou  lettest  him  go  free 

*  Or,  bondman  ^  Or,  bondwoman 


on  an  equality  of  rights  with  the  Hebrew,  is  consistent  with  its 
recognition  of  the  improved  status  of  woman  in  v.  21  (see  note). 
Cf.  verse  I7^ 

and  serve  :  rather,  *  he  shall  serve.' 

14.  furnish  him  liberally :  Heb.  *  make  a  rich  necklace  for 
him  '  ;  the  same  verb  in  Ps.  Ixxiii.  6. 

17.  thrust  it  throug-h  his  ear:  for  primitive  thought  such 
a  ceremony  is  more  than  symbohcal.  The  ear  is  the  organ  of 
obedience,  and  as  such  possesses  psychical  and  ethical  qualities. 
In  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  (Law  282)  the  slave  who  refuses  to 
obey  his  master  has  his  ear  cut  off.  The  ear  seems  to  have  been 
a  favourite  place  for  branding  slaves  (Cook,  The  Laws  0/ Moses, 
p.  159).  Some  of  the  ear-boring  rites  of  primitive  peoples  are 
probably  an  acknowledgement  of  the  worshippers'  service  to  the 
deity,  to  whom  they  stand  as  slaves. 

unto  the  door  of  his  master's  house,  on  whose  threshold 
a  blood-bond  is  thus  made  (Clay  Trumbull,  The  Threshold  Covenant, 
p.  210).  In  Exod.  xxi.  6,  however,  this  is  preceded  by  the  bringing 
of  the  slave  to  the  sanctuary  (*  unto  God')»  whereas  the  present 
law  makes  the  rite  simply  a  domestic  one. 


DEUTERONOMY  15.  19-21.    D  135 

from  thee ;  for  to  the  double  of  the  hire  of  an  hireling 
hath  he  served  thee  six  years :  and  the  Lord  thy  God 
shall  bless  thee  in  all  that  thou  doest. 

All  the  firstling  males  that  are  born  of  thy  herd  and  of  19 
thy  flock  thou  shalt  sanctify  unto  the  Lord  thy  God': 
thou  shalt  do  no  work  with  the  firstling  of  thine  ox,  nor 
shear  the  firstling  of  thy  flock.     Thou  shalt  eat  it  before  20 
the  Lord  thy  God  year  by  year  in  the  place  which  the 
Lord  shall  choose,  thou  and  thy  household.     And  if  it  21 
have  any  blemish,   as  if  it  be  lame   or   blind,    any  ill 
blemish  whatsoever,  thou  shalt  not  sacrifice  it  unto  the 


18.  to  the  double  of  the  hire  of  an  hireling :  a  day-labourer 
would  Jiave  cost  twice  as  much.  For  a  modem  parallel  to  the 
practice  here  enjoined,  see  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta,  i.  554  (cited 
by  Cook,  op.  cit,  p.  167'  : — 'The  condition  of  a  slave  is  always 
tolerable  and  is  often  happy  in  Arabia  ...  It  is  not  many  years, 
"  if  their  house- lord  fears  Ullah  "  before  he  will  give  them  their 
liberty  ;  and  then  he  sends  them  not  away  empty.' 

XV.  19-23.  ne  Law  0/ Firstlings.  The  firstborn  males  of  oxen 
and  sheep  are  to  be  eaten  yearly  at  the  one  sanctuary,  in  a  family 
feast  (verses  19-20).  If,  however,  any  one  of  these  be  not  perfect, 
it  is  to  be  eaten  at  home  as  ordinary  food  (verses  21-23). 

Parallel  laws  are  found  in  JE  (Exod.  xiii.  11-16,  xxii.  29,  30, 
xxxiv.  19-20),  and  in  P  (Num.  xviii.  15-18).  The  chief  differences 
(which  exemplify  the  practical  interests  of  Deuteronomy)  are 
that  the  earlier  law  (Exod.  xxii.  30)  orders  the  offering  of  the 
firstborn  on  the  eighth  day  after  birth,  which  the  law  of  the  central 
sanctuary  makes  impracticable,  and  that  the  later  law  (Num.  xviii. 
18)  gives  the  whole  of  the  flesh  as  a  priests'  due,  instead  of  direct- 
ing its  consumption  at  a  family  feast. 

19.  firstling-  males:  these  were  originally  placed  under  the 
taboo  which  belongs  to  all  that  is  connected  with  birth  and  its 
mysteries  (Introd.,  p.  25).  If  a  firstling  ass  was  not  redeemed  by 
its  owner,  its  neck  was  to  be  broken  (Exod.  xxxiv.  20  :  cf  Rel, 
Sem.,  p.  463).  The  maintenance  of  this  taboo  is  still  seen  here, 
in  the  exclusion  of  the  firstling  from  ordinary  work  or  use, 

20.  year  by  year  :  i.  e.  at  such  a  yearly  festival  as  the  passover 
(chap,  xvi),  a  custom  which  would  explain  the  present  place  of 
this  law. 

21.  blemish:  cf  xvii.  i. 


136         DEUTERONOMY  15.  22— 16.  i.     D 

22  Lord  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  eat  it  within  thy  gates  •, 
the   unclean  and  the   clean   shall  eat  it  alike,  as  the 

^^3  gazelle,  and  as  the  hart.  Only  thou  shalt  not  eat  the 
blood  thereof;  thou  shalt  pour  it  out  upon  the  ground 
as  water. 

16      Observe  the  month  of  Abib,  and  keep  the  passover 

22.  the  unclean  and  the  clean :  see  on  xii.  15 ;   it  is  to  be 

treated  as  ordinary  food,  the  taboo  being  in  this  case  disregarded. 

xvi.  1-17.  The  Three  Annual  Festivals: — (a)  Passover  (and 
Unleavened  Bread)  (verses  1-8)  ;  (6)  Weeks  (=  Pentecost^ 
(verses  9-12)  ;  (c)  Tabernacles  (verses  13-15).  Summary  (verses 
16,  17). 

Parallel  laws  are  found  in  JE  (Exod.  xxiii.  14-17,  xxxiv.  18, 
22-4,  xii.  21-7,  xiii.  3-10),  and  in  HP  (Lev.  xxiii)  and  P  (Num. 
xxviii  and  xxix). 

In  the  summary  of  these  festivals  (verse  16)  they  are  called  the 
feast  of  Mazzoth  (unleavened  bread),  the  feast  of  weeks,  and  the 
feast  of  booths.  The  second  and  third  of  these  are  plainly 
agricultural ;  the  first  also  is  of  the  same  character,  since  (a)  it 
is  connected  with  the  time  of  putting  the  sickle  to  the  standing 
corn  (verse  9) ;  (6)  produce  is  offered  at  it  as  at  the  other  feasts 
(verse  17),  especially  '  the  sheaf  of  the  firstfruits  '  (Lev.  xxiii.  10)  ; 
(c)  the  name  suggests  bread  made  in  haste  (Gen.  xviii.  6,  xix.  3, 
Exod.  xii.  34)  from  the  newly-reaped  barley  (cf.  Joshua  v.  11). 
But  agricultural  feasts,  such  as  these,  can  have  had  no  place  in  the 
nomadic  life  of  Israel.  They  must  belong  to  the  time  subsequent 
to  its  settlement  in  Canaan,  and  w^ere  most  probably  derived  from 
the  Canaanites  themselves,  amongst  whom  the  vintage  festival,  at 
any  rate,  was  celebrated  (Judges  ix.  27,  xxi.  i9f.)«  The  first  of 
these  festivals  is  hereconnected  with  sacrifices  of  another  kind  (verse 
2),  and  with  another  name,  the  Passover  (verse  i  f.).  This  con- 
nexion appears  to  have  existed  from  an  earlier  time  (Exod.  xxxiv. 
25,  xii.  21  f ),  the  characteristic  features  of  the  Passover  rites 
being  (a)  the  sacrifice  of  the  firstlings  of  cattle  and  the  redemption 
of  the  firstborn  of  man  (Exod.  xxxiv.  19  ;  note  verse  18  for 
connexion  with  Mazzoth)  ;  (6)  the  sprinkling  of  the  posts  of  the 
door  with  blood  (JExod.  xii.  22)  ;  (c)  the  evening  celebration 
(verses  4-7 :  cf.  Exod.  xii.  22).  Of  these,  (a)  will  connect  with 
the  law  of  firstlings  (xv.  19 f.);  (6)  is  some  form  of  'threshold 
covenant,'  in  which  the  blood  wards  off  peril,  as  from  pestilence 
(see  on  vi.  9)  ;  and  (c)  suggests  that  the  festival  is  related  to  the 
phases  of  the  moon.  Scholars  differ  in  opinion  as  to  which  of 
these  gives  the  central  meaning  of  the  Passover  j  W.  R.  Smith, 


DEUTERONOMY  16.  2,  3.     t>  137 

unto  the  Lord  thy  God :  for  in  the  month  of  Abib  the 
Lord  thy  God  brought  thee  forth  out  of  Egypt  by  night. 
And  thou  shalt  sacrifice  the  passover  unto  the  Lord  thy  2 
God,  of  the  flock  and  the  herd,  in  the  place  which  the 
Lord  shall  choose  to  cause  his  name  to  dwell  there. 
Thou  shalt  eat  no  leavened  bread  with  it ;  seven  days  3 
shalt  thou  eat  unleavened  bread   therewith,   even   the 


for  example,  emphasizes  {a)  :  '  In  the  Passover  we  find  the 
sacrifice  of  firstlings  assuming  the  form  of  an  annual  feast,  in  the 
spring  season  '  {Rel.  Sent.,  p.  465)  ;  Benzinger  emphasizes  {b) 
(E.B.  3595)  ;  and  others  have  emphasized  the  relation  of  spring 
festivals  to  the  calendar.  (For  the  importance  of  the  moon  in 
regard  to  Semitic  agriculture,  see  Jastrow,  Babylom'art-Assyn'an 
Religiou,  p.  461.)  The  '  Passover '  may  weW  have  been  Israel's 
own  contribution  to  the  combined  festival  of  Passover — Mazzoth  ; 
in  its- original  form  it  may  have  been  connected  with  the 
Exodus,  according  to  the  tradition  of  Exod,  v.  i,  xii.  31,  &c. 
At  any  rate,  each  of  the  three  festivals  subsequently  gained 
a  historical  meaning ;  the  first  is  here  made  a  memorial  of  the 
Exodus  (verses  i,  3,  6,  as  perhaps  already  in  Exod.  xii.  27,  JE)  ; 
the  Feast  of  Booths  commemorated  the  desert  wanderings  (Lev. 
^xiii.  43,  H)  ;  whilst,  outside  the  limits  of  the  O.  T.,  the  Feast  of 
Weeks  was  connected  with  the  delivery  of  the  law  at  Sinai  {E.B. 
3651).  The  characteristics  of  Deuteronomy,  in  dealing  with  these 
festivals,  are — (a)  their  centralization  at  Jerusalem,  with  its  conse- 
quences, (b)  emphasis  on  their  historical  character  in  general  (see 
on  Deut.  xxvi.  5  f.). 

1.  Abito.  The  word  relates  to  fresh  ears  of  barley  in  Exod.  ix. 
31  (*  in  the  ear ') ;  hence  it  is  used  of  the  period  of  the  year  in 
which  these  are  formed  (i.  e.  our  April),  the  first  month  of  the 
priestly  year,  whose  post-exilic  name  was  Nisan. 

the  passover:  Heb.  pesah,  whose  meaning  is  usually  ex- 
plained from  Exod.  xii.  13.  Others  connect  with  a  similar  word 
meaning  to  leap,  or  limp  (i  Kings  xviii.  26),  and  explain  it  as 
meaning  a  ritual  dance  ;  others,  again  (Zimmern,  Die  Ketlinschriften 
iind  das  Alte  Testament,  p.  610  note^),  connect  with  the  Assyrian 
pasdhu  (be  appeased)  as  a  rite  of  expiation. 

2.  of  the  flock  and  the  herd  :  i.  e.  either  a  sheep  or  an  ox,  the 
range  of  choice  for  the  Passover  sacrifice  being  wider  than  in 
the  later  law  of  P  (Exod.  xii.  3-6),  by  which  the  sacrifice  must  be 
a  Iamb  or  kid. 

3.  unleavened  bread:    (for  the   relation  of  Ma^^oth  to  the 


138  DEUTERONOMY  16.  4-8.     D 

bread  of  affliction  ;  for  thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt  in  haste  :  that  thou  mayest  remember  the 
day  when  thou  camest  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  all 

4  the  days  of  thy  life.  And  there  shall  be  no  leaven  seen 
with  thee  in  all  thy  borders  seven  days ;  neither  shall 
any  of  the  flesh,  which  thou  sacrificest  the  first  day  at  even, 

5  remain  all  night  until  the  morning.  Thou  mayest  not 
sacrifice  the  passover  within  any  of  thy  gates,  which  the 

6  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  :  but  at  the  place  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to  cause  his  name  to  dwell 
in,  there  thou  shalt  sacrifice  the  passover  at  even,  at  the 
going  down  of  the  sun,  at  the  season  that  thou  camest 

7  forth  out  of  Egypt.  And  thou  shalt  *  roast  and  eat  it  in 
the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose :  and 
thou  shalt  turn  in  the  morning,  and  go  unto  thy  tents. 

8  Six  days  thou  shalt  eat  unleavened  bread :  and  on  the 
seventh  day  shall  be  ^^  a  solemn  assembly  to  the  Lord  thy 
God ;  thou  shalt  do  no  work  therein, 

*  Or,  seethe  ^  See  Lev.  xxiii,  36. 


Passover,  see  above)  ;  here  called  the  bread  of  affliction  on 
the  ground  of  Exod.  xii.  34,  39,  and  a  frequent  form  of  food 
prepared  in  haste  or  '  trepidation '  (Driver)  (see  above,  and 
cf.  I  Sam.  xxviii.  24). 

4.  The  two  prohibitions  of  this  verse  are  connected  by  Robertson 
Smith  {Rel.  Sem.^  p.  221  note)  with  one  another  and  with  the  idea 
*  that  the  efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  lay  in  the  living  flesh  and  blood  of 
the  victim.  Everything  of  the  nature  of  putrefaction  was  therefore 
to  be  avoided.' 

6.  season :  rendered  '  set  time '  in  Exod.  ix.  5 ;  the  time  of 
day  is  meant  (Exod.  ;xii.  29  f.). 

*7.  roast.  The  normal  meaning  of  the  Heb.  word  is  '  boil ' 
(R.  V.  marg.  seethe),  as  rendered  in  xiv.  21,  and  as  it  should  be 
rendered  here.  The  later  law  of  P  (Exod.  xii.  9)  forbids  the 
flesh  of  the  passover  sacrifice  to  be  boiled. 

unto  thy  tents:  i.e.   home,  where  the  following  Mazzoth 
festival  is  to  be  kept.    For  the  phrase,  see  on  Joshua  xxii.  4. 

8.  a  solemn  assembly:    R. V.   marg.  offers   the  alternative 


DEUTERONOMY  16.  9-13.     D  139 

Seven  weeks  shalt  thou  number  unto  thee :  from  the  9 
time  thou  beginnest  to  put  the  sickle  to  the  standing 
corn  shalt  thou  begin  to  number   seven  weeks.     And  10 
thou  shalt  keep  the  feast  of  weeks  unto  the  Lord  thy 
God  a  with  a  tribute  of  a  freewill  offering  of  thine  hand, 
which  thou  shalt  give,  according  as  the  Lord  thy  God 
blesseth  thee  :  and  thou  shalt  rejoice  before  the  Lord  11 
thy  God,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and  thy  daughter,  and  thy 
manservant,  and  thy  maidservant,  and  the  Levite  that  is 
within  thy  gates,  and  the  stranger,  and  the  fatherless, 
and  the  widow,  that  are  in  the  midst  of  thee,  in  the 
place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to  cause  his 
name  to  dwell  there.     And  thou  shalt  remember  that  12 
thou  wast  a  bondman  in  Egypt :  and  thou  shalt  observe 
and  do  these  statutes. 

*  Or,  after  the  measure  ofthe&e. 

'closing  festival,'  this  seventh  sabbatical  day  being  the  close  of 
the  whole  week  ;  but  the  word  is  used  in  a  general  sense  also 
(Jer.  ix.  2).     Read  simply  'an  assembly.' 

9.  The  *  feast  of  weeks '  (verses  10,  16  ;  Exod.  xxxiv.  22)  is  so 
called  because  it  marks  the  completion  of  the  seven  weeks  of  corn 
harvest ;  its  better-known  name,  Pentecost,  meaning  *  the  fiftieth  ' 
(day),  was  used  by  Hellenistic  Jews  (cf.  Lev.  xxiii.  16).  It  is 
called  *  the  feast  of  harvest '  in  Exod.  xxiii.  16,  and  *  the  day  of 
firstfruits '  in  Num.  xxviii.  26  (here,  however,  no  mention  is 
made  of  the  firstfruits). 

sickle :  for  the  only  other  reaping  instrument  named  in  the 
O.  T.,  see  Jer.  1.  16 ;  Joel  iii.  13  (a  different  word).  Both  sickle 
flints,  to  make  a  cutting  edge,  and  iron  sickles  have  been  found  at 
Tell  el  Hesi  {E.B.  81). 

10.  feast:  Heb.  hag^  the  same  word  as  the  Arabic  haj^  the 
well-known  annual  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Driver  prefers  to  render 
by  '  pilgrimage  ' ;  in  any  case,  this  element  in  the  meaning  of  the 
word  must  not  be  overlooked.  Possibly  '  pilgrim-feast '  may  be 
used  with  advantage. 

with  a  tribute :  read  with  R.  V.  marg. ;  the  Hebrew  word 
probably  means  '  sufficiency,'  and  the  meaning  is  *  the  full  amount 
that  thou  canst  afford.' 

11.  See  on  xii.  5,  7,  la. 


140  DEUTERONOMY  16.  13-18.     D 

13  Thou  shalt  keep  the  feast  of  ^  tabernacles  seven  days, 
after  that  thou   hast  gathered   in   from   thy   threshing- 

14  floor  and  from  thy  winepress  :  and  thou  shalt  rejoice  in 
thy  feast,  thou,  and  thy  son,  and  thy  daughter,  and  thy 
manservant,  and  thy  maidservant,  and  the  Levite,  and 
the  stranger,  and  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow,  that  are 

rs  within  thy  gates.  Seven  days  shalt  thou  keep  a  feast 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God  in  the  place  which  the  Lord 
shall  choose  :  because  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bless  thee 
in  all  thine  increase,  and  in  all  the  work  of  thine  hands, 

1 5  and  thou  shalt  be  altogether  joyful.  Three  times  in  a 
year  shall  all  thy  males  appear  before  the  Lord  thy  God 
in  the  place  which  he  shall  choose;  in  the  feast  of 
unleavened  bread,  and  in  the  feast  of  weeks,  and  in  the 
feast  of  tabernacles  :    and  they  shall  not  appear  before 

17  the  Lord  empty  :  every  man  ^  shall  give  as  he  is  able, 
according  to  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  thy  God  which  he 
hath  given  thee. 

18  Judges  and  officers  shalt  thou  make  thee  in  all  thy 
•  Heb.  booths.  ^  Heb.  according  to  the  gift  0/ his  hand. 

13.  The  feast  of  booths  (R.  V.  marg.)  is  called  in  Exod.  xxiii. 
16,  xxxiv.  22  (JE)  the  feast  of  ingathering  ;  and,  as  the  chief  of 
the  three,  is  also  called  simply  '  the  feast '  (i  Kings  viii.  2,  65,  &c.). 
The  custom  of  living  in  *  booths  '  at  the  vintage  season  has  been 
enshrined  in  the  law  of  Lev.  xxiii.  40-3.  The  feast  is  the 
autumn  thanksgiving  for  the  produce  of  the  year,  which  the 
vintage  completes  (September). 

15.  Cf.  Lev.  xxiii.  39;  this  feast,  only,  retains  the  worshippers 
more  than  a  day  at  Jerusalem. 

16  f.  The  concluding  summary  is  parallel  with  Exod.  xxiii.  17. 

appear  before  :  the  original  punctuation  of  the  Hebrew  verb 

here  as  elsewhere  (xxxi.  11,  &c.),  perhaps  expressed  'see  the 

face  of  (cf.  2  Sam.  iii.   13,  &c.),  the  phrase  used  of  obtaining 

audience  of  a  king  or  ruler. 

xvi.  18 — xviii.  aa  (except  xvi.  ai — xvii.  7) :  Judges,  King,  Priests, 
Prophets.     The  appointment  of  local  judges  whose  judicial  acts 


DEUTERONOMY  16.  19,  20.     D  141 

gates,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  according  to 
thy  tribes :  and  they  shall  judge  the  people  with  righteous 
judgement.  Thou  shalt  not  wrest  judgement ;  thou  19 
shalt  not  respect  persons :  neither  shalt  thou  take  a 
gift ;  for  a  gift  doth  blind  the  eyes  of  the  wise,  and 
pervert  the  ^  words  of  the  righteous.  ^'  That  which  is  ^° 
altogether  just  shalt  thou  follow,  that  thou  mayest  live, 
*  Or,  cause  ^  Heb.  JusHcey  justice. 

shall  be  impartial  (xvi.  18-20).  Reference  of  difficult  cases  to  a 
court  of  appeal  at  Jerusalem,  whose  decisions  shall  be  final,  con- 
tempt of  court  being  punishable  with  death  (xvii.  8-13). 

The  future  king  of  Israel  shall  be  Yahweh's  choice  and  an 
Israelite  (xvii.  14,  15).  He  shall  not  multiply  horses,  wives,  or 
wealth  verses  16,  17).  A  royal  copy  of  this  law  shall  be  made, 
which  he  shall  study  and  obey,  that  he  may  be  saved  from  pride 
and  disobedience,  and  may  prolong  his  reign  and  that  of  his 
d3'nasty  (verses  18-20).  The  Levitical  priests,  having  no  other 
inheritance,  shall  be  supported  from  the  offerings  made  to  Yahweh 
and  from  dues  paid  by  the  people  (xviii.  1-5).  Local  Levites  who 
come  up  to  Jerusalem  shall  there  have  equal  rights  of  ministry 
and  support  with  their  brethren  (verses  6-8). 

The  magic  and  divination  of  Canaan  shall  not  be  practised  by 
Israel  (verses  9-14^  Instead,  there  shall  be  a  succession  of 
prophets  to  take  the  place  of  Moses,  authoritatively  commissioned 
by  Yahweh,  the  test  of  the  true  prophet  being  the  conformity  of 
his  message  to  actual  events  (verses  15-22). 

xvi.  18  f.    Judges. 

18.  Judges  and  officers :  the  appointment  of  these  local  (In 
all  thy  grates)  judges  and  their  assistants  was  rendered  ni  i^es- 
sary  by  the  destruction  of  the  local  sanctuaries,  whose  priests  had 
given  judgements  in  the  name  of  Yahweh  (Exod.  xxi.  6,  xxii.  8  ; 
I  Sam.  ii.  25 ;  Isa.  xxviii.  7).  Josephus  makes  the  appointment 
to  be  of  seven  judges  for  each  city,  each  with  two  Levites  to  assist 
him  {Antiq.  iv.  8.  14)— a  description  probably  drawn  from  the 
customs  of  his  own  day.  For  examples  of  the  powers  of  these 
judges,  cf  xix.  17,  xxi.  2,  xxv.  2.  The  relation  of  these  judges  to 
the  '  elders  *  (see  on  xix.  11)  is  not  clear. 

19.  Cf.  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  §  5,  for  the  severe  sentence  on 
the  judge  who  revokes  his  own  properly  declared  verdict  (pre- 
sumably on  corrupt  grounds).  Attempted  bribery  is  there  punirfied 
by  the  penalty  from  which  escape  is  sought,  §  4. 

words  :  so  the  Hebrew,  but  in  sense  of  R«  V.  mai^. 


142  DEUTERONOMY  16.  21—17.  i.     D 

and  inherit  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 

thee. 
21      Thou  shalt  not  plant  thee  an  Asherah  of  any  kind  of 

tree  beside  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  thou 
2  2  shalt   make   thee.     Neither  shalt   thou   set   thee  up  a 

^  pillar ;  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hateth. 
17      Thou  shalt  not  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  an 

ox,  or  a  sheep,  wherein  is  a  blemish,  or  any  evilfavoured- 

ness :    for  that   is  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord  thy 

God. 

*  Or,  obelisk 

xvi.  21 — xvii.  7.  Laws  against  Idolatrous  or  Improper  Worship. 
No  Asherah  and  no  Mazzebah  shall  be  erected  b^'  Yahweh's  altar 
(xvi.  21,  22) ;  no  blemished  animal  shall  be  sacrificed  to  Him 
(xvii.  i)  ;  the  Israelite  convicted  through  tw^o  witnesses  of  w^or- 
shipping  other  gods  shall  be  stoned  to  death  (xvii.  2-7). 

This  short  section  is  clearly  out  of  place,  since  it  breaks  the 
connexion  between  xvi.  20  and  xvii.  8.  Its  most  natural  place 
would  be  between  chaps,  xii  and  xiii. 

21.  Asherah  :  (vii.  5,  xii.  3)  this  transliteration  of  the  Hebrew 
word  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  the  name  of  a  person  (the  existence 
of  any  goddess  of  this  name  is  uncertain)  nor  confused  with 
Ashtoreth,  the  Phoenician  goddess.  It  was  a  wooden  post 
(Judges  vi.  26),  which  stood  by  Canaanite  altars  (Judges  vi.  25 : 
cf.  Exod.  xxxiv.  13),  and  by  the  altars  of  Yahweh,  prior  to  the 
Deuteronomic  reform  (2  Kings  xiii.  6,  xxiii.  6,  15).  The  most 
natural  explanation  regards  it  as  a  development  from  tree-worship 
(cf.  Rel.  Sem.,  p.  188  ;  and  for  a  popular  account  of  tree-worship, 
Phil  pot,  The  Sacred  Tree). 

22.  pillar,  or,  'Mazzebah,'  is  the  upright  stone,  frequently 
named  with  the  Asherah  as  standing  by  the  altar  or  high  place 
(vii.  5,  xii.  3).  There  were  sacred  stones  at  Shechem  (Joshua 
xxiv.  26),  Bethel  (Gen.  xxviii.  18  f.),  Gilgal  (Joshua  iv.  20)  ;  cf. 
Hosea  iii.  4  {Rel.  Sem.,  203).  For  the  place  of  the  sacred  stone 
in  Semitic  religion,  see  Moore's  art.  '  Massebah '  in  E.B.  ;  it 
appears  to  have  been  *  the  rude  precursor  of  the  temple  and  the 
altar  as  well  as  of  the  idol '  {E.B.  2982V  An  illustration  of  a 
Phoenician  Mazzebah  will  be  found  in  D.B.  s.  v.  '  Pillar.' 

xvii.  1.  blemish:  xv.  21 ;  Lev.  xxii.  17-25  (H) :  cf.  Lev.  i.  3  (P  , 
&c.  The  abomination  (vii.  25)  of  such  an  offering  is  em- 
phasized in  Mai.  u  8. 


DEUTERONOMY  17.  2-8.     D  143 

If  there  be  found  in  the  midst  of  thee,  within  any  of  2 
thy  gates  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  man  or 
woman,  that  doeth  that  which  is  evil  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord  thy  God,  in  transgressing  his  covenant,  and  hath  3 
gone  and  served  other  gods,  and  worshipped  them,  or 
the  sun,  or  the  moon,  or  any  of  the  host  of  heaven^ 
which  I  have  not  commanded ;  and  it  be  told  thee,  and  4 
thou  hast  heard  of  it,  then  shalt  thou  inquire  diligently, 
and,  behold,  if  it  be  true,  and  the  thing  certain,  that  such 
abomination  is  wrought  in  Israel ;  then  shalt  thou  bring  5 
forth  that  man  or  that  woman,  which  have  done  this  evil 
thing,  unto  thy  gates,  even  the  man  or  the  woman ;  and 
thou  shalt  stone  them  with  stones,  that  they  die.     At  6 
the  mouth  of  two  witnesses,  or  three  witnesses,  shall  he 
that  is  to  die  be  put  to  death ;   at  the  mouth  of  one 
witness  he  shall  not  be  put  to  death.     The  hand  of  the  7 
witnesses  shall  be  first  upon  him  to  put  him  to  death, 
and  afterward  the  hand  of  all  the  people.     So  thou  shalt 
put  away  the  evil  from  the  midst  of  thee. 

If  there  arise  a  matter  too  hard  for  thee  in  judgement,  8 
between  blood  and  blood,  between  plea  and  plea,  and 

2f.  Cf.  Exod.  xxii.  20  (JE)  and  Deut.  xiii,  which  deals  with 
seduction  to  this  idolatry. 

covenant:  cf.  Joshua  vii.  11,  15,  &c.:  see  on  iv.  13.     Here 
the  term  is  equivalent  to  *  ordinance '  or  *  injunction.* 

3.  See  on  iv.  19. 

4.  Cf.  xiii.  14. 

5.  The  idolater  is  to  be  stoned  to  death  without  the  gate  (cf. 
Num.  XV.  36).     Stephen  died  under  this  law  (Acts  vii.  57  f.). 

6.  A  special  application  of  the  general  provision  of  xix.  15  :  cf. 
Num.  XXXV.  30. 

7.  See  on  xiii.  9  ;  and  note  that  in  both  cases  the  death  penalty 
is  carried  out  by  the  entire  community  (cf.  E.B.  2718). 

8  f.  The  subject  of  xvi.  18-20  is  continued  ;  difficult  cases  shall 
be  referred  from  the  local  courts  to  Jerusalem. 

between  blood  and  blood:  i.e.  whether  the  act  of  killing 
has  been  intentional  or  accidental  (Exod.  xxi.  ia-14).     Similar 


144  DEUTERONOMY  17.  9-12.     D 

between  stroke  and  stroke,  being  matters  of  controversy 
within  thy  gates  :  then  shalt  thou  arise,  and  get  thee  up 
unto  the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose ; 

9  and  thou  shalt  come  unto  the  priests  the  Levites,  and 
unto  the  judge  that  shall  be  in  those  days  :  and  thou 
shalt  inquire ;  and  they  shall  shew  thee  the  sentence  of 

10  judgement :  and  thou  shalt  do  according  to  the  tenor  of 
the  sentence,  which  they  shall  shew  thee  from  that  place 
which  the  Lord  shall  choose ;  and  thou  shalt  observe  to 

I  r  do  according  to  all  that  they  shall  teach  thee  :  according 
to  the  tenor  of  the  law  which  they  shall  teach  thee,  and 
according  to  the  judgement  which  they  shall  tell  thee, 
thou   shalt   do :    thou   shalt   not   turn  aside   from   the 

12  sentence  which  they  shall  shew  thee,  to  the  right 
hand,  nor  to  the  left.  And  the  man  that  doeth  pre- 
sumptuously, in  not  hearkening   unto  the  priest   that 

difficulties  might  arise  in  regard  to  the  plea  (a  general  word),  in- 
cluding, if  not  designating,  disputes  about  property  (e.g.  Exod.  xxii. 
if.)  and  in  regard  to  the  stroke,  which  refers  to  personal  injuries 
(such  as  those  of  Exod.  xxi.  18  f.). 

within  thy  grates :  i.  e.  locally  (xii.  is),  hardly  with  refer- 
ence to  the  '  gate '  as  the  place  of  judgement. 

9.  the  priests  the  Levites  :  see  on  xviii.  i. 

the  judge :  possibly  the  king  is  meant,  as  in  Amos  ii.  3  ; 
Micah  V.  i.  That  the  king  was  supreme  judge  in  Israel  is  clear 
from  2  Sam.  viii.  15,  xiv.  4  f.,  xv.  a,  i  Kings  vii.  7,  &c.  A  supreme 
court  is  said  to  have  been  instituted  by  Jehoshaphat,  according 
to  2  Chron.  xix.  8,  of  spiritual  and  lay  judges,  with  the  chief 
priest  as  president  in  sacred,  and  a  representative  of  the  king  in 
secular  cases. 

thou  shalt  inquire:  read  with  LXX  'they  shall  inquire' 
(cf.  xix.  18),  i.e.  the  judges  who  will  'declare'  (R.V.  shew) 
the  sentence. 

10.  tenor  :  Hebrew  *  mouth ' :  cf.  xix.  15,  xxi.  5  (*  word ').  The 
idiom  '  according  to  the  mouth  of '  here  expresses  *  exactly,'  or 
'literally.' 

teach  :  '  direct,'  the  verb  corresponding  to  the  noun  '  torah  ' 
(verse  11),  *  direction,'  and  so  '  law.' 

18.  The  relation  of  the  'priest'  and  the  'judge'  is  not  clear, 


DEUTERONOMY  17.  13-16.     D  145 

standeth  to  minister  there  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  of 
unto  the  judge,  even  that  man  shall  die  :  and  thou  shalt 
put  away  the  evil  foom  Israel.     And'  ail  the  people  ^ail  13 
hear,  and  fear,  aaid  do  no  more  presumptuously. 

When  thou  art  come  unto  the  land  Which  tbe'  t/OR»  M 
thy  GodI  ^veth  thee,  and  shait  possess  it;  atrid  shale  dweli' 
therein  ;  and  shalt  say,  I  will  seta  klrtg  over  me,  lilte'  as 
all  the  nations  that  are  round'  about  me  ;  thou  shalt  in  15 
any  wise  set  him  king  over  thee,  \f1iom  the  Lord  thy 
God  shall  choose :  one  from  among  thy  brethren  shalt 
thou  set  king  over  thee  :  thou  mayest  not  put  a  foreigner 
over  thee,  which  is  not  thy  brother.     Only  he  shall  not  r6 
multiply  horses  to  himself,  nor  cause  the  people  to  return 
to  Egypt,  to  the  end  that  he  should  multiply  horses : 
forasmuch  as  the  Lord  hath  said  unto  you.  Ye  shall 

unless  we  suppose  that  a  division  of  jurisdiction  is  implied  (see  on 
verse  9).  For  put  away,  see  on  xiii.  5.  The  decision  is  that  of 
Yahweh ;  hence  the  severe  penalty  for  contempt  of  court. 

xvii.   14-20.     The  future  king, 

14.  I  will  set  a  king*  over  me :  cf.  i  Sam.  viii.  5,  which 
belongs  to  the  later  of  the  two  narratives  of  the  institution  of  the 
kingship,  representing  Samuel  as  hostile  to  such  institution. 
Deuteronomy  shares  something  of  this  hostility,  drawn  from  the 
actual  experience  of  the  monarchy  (verse  16),  and  expressed  in 
previous  prophetic  teaching  (e.  g.  Hos.  viii.  4). 

15.  The  king  must  be  Yahweh's  choice  (i  Sam.  x.  24  ;  2  Sam. 
vi.  21),  and  a  native  Israelite. 

16.  17.  The  prohibition  of  multiplied  horses,  wives,  and  wealth 
is  clearly  aimed  at  such  conduct  as  Solomon's  (i  Kings  x.  14 — xi. 
8),  and  implies  the  memory  of  his  reign. 

horses  :  i.  e.  for  war.  The  Hebrew  suspicion  of  foreign 
methods  of  fighting  is  reflected  in  Joshua  xi.  9,  where  the  captured 
horses  are  houghed.     Cf.  Hos.  xiv.  3 ;    Isa.  ii.  7  ;  Micah  v.  10. 

to  return  to  Egypt :  hardly  of  an  Israelite  slave-trade 
(Steuemagel),  but  of  the  general  relations  of  commerce,  as  in 
I  Kings  X.  28.     Egypt  was  famous  for  its  horses. 

hath  said  :  cf.  xxviii.  68  ;  the  source  of  tliis  quotation  is  not 
included  in  the  extant  O.  T.  documents;  but  cf.  Exod.  xiii.  17, 
xiv.  13. 

L 


146  DEUTERONOMY  17.  17— 18.  i.     D 

17  henceforth  return  no  more  that  way.  Neither  shall  he 
multiply  wives  to  himself,  that  his  heart  turn  not  away : 
neither  shall  he  greatly  multiply  to  himself  silver  and  gold. 

18  And  it  shall  be,  when  he  sitteth  upon  the  throne  of  his 
kingdom,  that  he  shall  write  him  a  copy  of  this  law  in  a 
book,  out  of  that  which  is  before  the  priests  the  Levites  : 

19  and  it  shall  be  with  him,  and  he  shall  read  therein 
all  the  days  of  his  life :  that  he  may  learn  to  fear  the 
Lord  his  God,  to  keep  all  the  words  of  this  law  and  these 

20  statutes,  to  do  them  :  that  his  heart  be  not  lifted  up  above 
his  brethren,  and  that  he  turn  not  aside  from  the  command- 
ment, to  the  right  hand,  or  to  the  left :  to  the  end  that 
he  may  prolong  his  days  in  his  kingdom,  he  and  his 
children,  in  the  midst  of  Israel. 

18      The  priests  the  Levites,  ^  even  all  the  tribe  of  Levi, 
shall  have  no  portion  nor  inheritance  with  Israel :  they 
»  Or,  and 

17.  that  Ms  heart  tuim  not  away  :  as  did  Solomon's  (i  Kings 
xi.  4  f.),  through  the  foreign  religion  of  the  women  of  his  harem. 
silver  and  gold :  as  a  source  of  pride  (verse  20  :  cf.  Isa.  xxxix). 

18  f.  The  king  is  to  v^^rite  out  for  himself  the  Deuteronomic 
law  from  the  sanctuary  edition  (xxxi.  9,  26),  and  rule  by  its  precepts, 
a  copy  of  this  law:  Hebrew,  'a  repetition  of  this  law,' 
wrongly  understood  by  the  LXX  (so  in  Joshua  viii.  32)  as  meaning 
'  this  repetition  of  the  law,'  whence  is  derived  the  name  of  the 
book  '  Deuteronomy,'  the  *  second  law.' 

xviii,  1-8.  The  Priests:  (a)  support  (verses  1-5),  {b)  equality 
(verses  6-8). 

1.  The  priests  the  Levites:  i.  e.,  as  the  verse  explicitly  states 
('  all  the  tribe  of  Levi '),  every  Levite  is  a  potential  or  actual  priest. 
(There  is  no  ground  for  R.  V.  marg.).  The  later  law  of  P  con- 
fined the  priesthood  to  *  Aaron's  sons,  the  priests '  (Lev.  i.  5,  &c.)  : 
see  on  x.  8. 

no  portion  nor  inheritance  with  Israel.  The  early  history 
of  the  tribe  of  Levi  is  obscurely  reflected  in  Gen.  xxxiv.  25,  30, 
xlix.  5f.,  where  it  appears  as  a  secular  tribe  ;  in  Deut.  xxxiii.  8  11 
it  appears  as  a  priestly  community.  We  have  no  clear  evidence  as 
to  the  transition  ;  but  the  passages  cited  from  Genesis  imply  the 
disappearance  of  Levi  and  Simeon  as  distinct  tribes.     The  most 


DEUTERONOMY  18.  2-6.     D  147 

shall  eat  the  offerings  of  the  Lord  made  by  fire,  and  his 
inheritance.     And  they  shall  have  no  inheritance  among  2 
their  brethren  :  the  Lord  is  their  inheritance,  as  he  hath 
spoken  unto  them.     And  this  shall  be  the  priests'  due  3 
from  the  people,  from  them  that  offer  a  sacrifice,  whether 
it  be  ox  or  sheep,  that  they  shall  give  unto  the  priest  the 
shoulder,   and   the   two   cheeks,   and   the    maw.     The  4 
firstfruits  of  thy  corn,  of  thy  wine,  and  of  thine  oil,  and 
the  first  of  the  fleece  of  thy  sheep,  shalt  thou  give  him. 
For  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  him  out  of  all  thy  5 
tribes,  to  stand  to  minister  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  him 
and  his  sons  for  ever. 

And  if  a  Levite  come  from  any  of  thy  gates  out  of  all  6 

probable  explanation  of  the  priestly  character,  subsequently  as- 
signed to  Levi,  is  that  the  descendants  of  the  Levite  Moses 
became  a  nucleus  for  priests  in  general,  of  whatever  tribal  origin, 
who  replaced  the  old  scattered  or  exterminated  secular  tribe. 
(For  fuller  details,  see  D.  B.  s.  v.  *  Levi.') 

the  offerings  of  Yahweh  made  by  fire :  i  Sam.  ii.  28  ;  Josh, 
xiii.  14  (interpolated)  and  often  in  P ;  '  it  is  thus  used  of  the 
burnt-offering  (Lev.  i.  9),  the  meal-offering  (Lev.  ii.  3),  the  thank- 
offering  (Lev.  iii.  3),  the  guilt-offering  (Lev.  vii.  5),  in  all  of  which 
specified  parts  were  the  perquisite  of  the  priests  (Lev.  ii.  3,  vii. 
6-10;   Num.  xviii.  9  f.).'  (Driver.) 

his  inheritance :  i.  e.  such  other  dues  as  are  named  in  verse  4. 
Cf.  verse  2,  '  Yahweh  (therefore  the  offerings  made  to  Him)  is 
their  inheritance.' 

3.  The  dues  from  the  fire-offerings  (of  D)  are  stated  ;  contrast 
those  of  Lev.  vii.  34  ;  Num.  xviii.  18,  where  the  breast  and  thigh 
are  assigned  (P).  For  the  priest's  share  in  earlier  times  see 
I  Sam.  ii.  13-16  :  cf.  Judges  xvii.  10. 

4.  Cf.  Num.  xviii.  12.  For  the  earlier  offering  of  firstfruits, 
see  Exod.  xxiii.  19,  xxxiv.  26  (JE)  :  see  on  xxvi.  2  f.,  and  cf. 
Rel.  Sent.,  p.  241. 

xviii.  6-8.  The  (dispossessed)  country  priests  (Levites)  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  come  to  Jerusalem  and  receive  an  equal  place  in  ministry 
and  support  with  the  priests  already  there.  Contrast  2  Kings 
xxiii.  9  (Introd.,  p.  11). 

sojoumeth  :  his  occupation  being  gone,  he  can  no  longer  be  re- 
garded as  a  settled  resident.  Deuteronomy  knows  of  no  Levitical 
cities. 

L  2 


f48  DEUTERONOMY  18.  7-10.     D 

Israel,  where  he  sojourneth,  and  come  with  all  the  desire  of 
his  soul  unto  the  place  which  the  Lord  shall  choose ; 

7  then  he  shall  minister  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God, 
as  all  his  brethren  the  Levites  do,  which  stand  there 

8  before  the  Lord.     They  shall  have  like  portions  to  eat, 
beside  that  which  cometh  of  the  sale  of  his  patrimony. 

9  When  thou  art  come  into  the  land  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  giveth  thee,  thou  shalt  not  learn  to  do  after  the 

10  abominations  of  those  nations.  There  shall  not  be  found 
with  thee  any  one  that  maketh  his  son  or  his  daughter  to 
pass  through  the  firci  one  that  Useth  divination,  one  that 

6.  and  come :  *  he  shall  come  '  is  preferable,  with  <  and  *  for 

*  then '  in  verse  7. 

8.  beside  that  whicli  coxuetli  of  the  sale  of  his  patrimony  : 

*  besides  his  sellings  according  to  the  fathers,'  i.  e.  the  sale  either  of 
his  local  possessions  (R.  V.)  or  of  private  dues  on  leaving  for  Jeru- 
salem. So  Driver,  who  adds — '  Either  explanation  is  questionable  : 
all  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  words  describe  some  private 
source  of  income  possessed  by  the  Levite,  distinct  from  what  he 
receives  as  a  priest  officiating  at  the  central  sanctuary.' 

xviii.  9-22.  Prophets  :  the  contrast  of  prophecy  with  (heathen) 
magic  and  divination. 

10.  pass  througrh  the  fire  :  cf.  xii.  31  ;  the  reference  is  to  the 
rites  of  Molech-worship  (Lev.  xviii.  21,  xx.  2-5),  frequently  con- 
demned by  the  prophets  (Jer.  vii.  31)  :  cf.  2  Kings  xvi.  3,  xvii.  17, 
xxi.  6,  xxiii.  lo,  for  its  prevalence  amongst  Israelites.  Victims 
were  actually  killed,  according  to  these  and  other  passages,  though 
little  is  known  of  the  details  of  the  ceremony.  We  may  explain 
the  words  as  referring  to  some  fire-ordeal,  supposed  to  elicit  a 
divine  response  (so  Driver,  p.  222). 

The  following  list  of  eight  varieties  of  the  magician  or  diviner 
forms  a  locus  classicus  for  the  study  of  the  subject.  The  terms 
(fully  discussed  in  Driver's  Commentary)  are  : — (i)  One  that 
useth  divination:  as  by  the  headless  arrows  (Ezek.  xxi,  21) 
used  in  drawing  lots  at  a  sanctuary  by  the  Arabs;  this  is  the 
most  general  term.  (2)  one  that  practiseth  augfury :  a  sooth- 
sayer, the  Hebrew  term  (Judges  ix.  37,  cf.  R.  V.  marg.)  perhaps 
denoting  one  who  muttered  his  incantations.  (3)  an  enchanter  : 
or  observer  of  omens  (Gen.  xliv.  5  ;  Num.  xxiv.  i  .  (4)  a  sorcerer  : 
using  material  means  in  his  magic  ,Micah  v.  12  ;   cf.  Exod.  xxii. 


J  DEUTERONOMY  18.  ir-17.     D  149 

practiseth  augury,  or  an  enchanter,  or  a  sorcerer,  or  a  n 
charmer,  or  a  consulter  with  a  famihar  spirit,  or  a  wizard;, 
or  a  necromancer.     For  whosoever  doeth  these  things  is  12 
an    abomination    unto   the   Lord  :    and    because    of 
these  abominations  the  Lord  thy  God  doth  drive  them 
out  from  before  thee.     Thou  shalt  be  perfect  with  the  13 
Lord  thy  God.     For  these   nations,  which  thou  shalt  14 
possess,  hearken   unto  them  that  practise  augury,  and 
unto  diviners :  but  as  for  thee,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 
not  suffered  thee  so  to  do.     The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  15 
up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy 
brethren,  like  unto  me ;   unto  him    ye   shall  hearken ; 
according  to  all  that  thou  desiredst  of  the  Lord  thy  16 
God  in  Horeb  in  the  day  of  the  assembly,  saying,  Let 
me   not   hear  again   the  voice  of  the  Lord  my  God, 
neither  let  me  see  this  great  fire  any  more,  that  I  die 
not.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  They  have  well  said  17 

18).  (5)  a  cliamier :  as  of  serpents  (Ps.  Iviii.  5),  the  term  perhaps 
expressing  one  who  composes  a  spell.  (6)  and  (7)  A  consulter 
witli  a  familiar  spirit,  or  a  wizard :  rather.  '  with  a  ghost  or 
familiar  spirit '  (Lev.  xx.  27),  the  former  exemplified  by  the  '  witch 
of  Endor'  (i  Sam.  xxviii.  7),  the  latter  perhaps  by  Acts  xvi.  16. 
(8)  a  necromancer,  or  inquirer  of  the  dead  :  cf.  Isa.  viii.  19. 
Thus  (i),  (2),  (3)  relate  to  divination,  (4),  (5)  to  magic,  (6),  (7),  (8) 
to  mediumistic  spiritualism. 

A  somewhat  similar  list  of  names  can  be  collected  from  Baby- 
lonian literature  (Jastrow,  Bab.-Assyrian  Religion,  p.  657).  The 
first  two  laws  of  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  are  concerned  with  the 
weaver  of  spells. 

14  f.  The  contrast  of  Israel's  means  of  knowing  hidden  and 
future  things  is  now  enforced. 

15.  a  prophet:  i.e.  a  succession  of  prophets,  as  the  whole  { 
passage  implies,  who  will  continue  to  take  the  spiritual  place  of  ' 
Moses  (like  unto  me).     The  Messianic  application  of  this  promise 

to  Christ  (Acts  iii.  22,  vii.  37)  is  foreign  to  Deuteronomy. 

from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren  :    Israelites,  not 
foreign  magicians. 

16,  1*7.  See  V.  27,  28. 


I50  DEUTERONOMY  18.  i8--19.  i.     D 

1 8  that  which  they  have  spoken.  I  will  raise  them  up  a 
prophet  from  among  their  brethren,  like  unto  thee ; 
and  I  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth,  and  he  shall 

19  speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  whosoever  will  not  hearken  unto 
my  words  which   he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I   will 

20  require  it  of  him.  But  the  prophet,  which  shall  speak  a 
word  presumptuously  in  my  name,  which  I  have  not 
commanded  him  to  speak,   or  that  shall  speak  in  the 

21  name  of  other  gods,  that  same  prophet  shall  die.  And 
if  thou  say  in  thine  heart.  How  shall  we  know  the  word 

22  which  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken?  When  a  prophet 
speaketh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  if  the  thing  follow 
not,  nor  come  to  pass,  that  is  the  thing  which  the  Lord 
hath  not  spoken  :  the  prophet  hath  spoken  it  presump- 
tuously, thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  of  him. 

19      When  the   Lord  thy  God  shall  cut  off  the  nations, 

18.  What  was  said  (v.  31)  of  Moses  is  here  (verses  18-20) 
generalized  and  applied  to  the  line  of  future  prophets.  The 
prophet,  like  the  apostle  (2  Cor.  v.  20),  is  essentially  the  am- 
bassador of  God. 

19.  Z  will  require :  the  *  I '  is  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew. 
Yahweh  vindicates  the  prophet's  word. 

20.  presujnptnously :  in  xvii.  12  of  sins  of  omission,  as  here 
of  commission.     Cf.  Jer.  vi.  13,  14,  &c. 

22.  The  test  of  the  prophet  of  Yahweh  is  the  observed  truth  of 
his  predictions.  If  he  is  supported  by  events,  he  is  supported  by 
Yahweh  ;  otherwise  he  need  not  be  dreaded.  This  test  is  explicitly 
rejected  for  the  prophets  of  other  gods  (xiii.  1-5)  ;  nor  is  the  higher 
Hebrew  prophecy  nearly  so  much  predictive  as  inierpretative. 

xix-xxv.  The  remainder  of  the  Code  of  Laws  admits  of  no 
natural  division  on  the  basis  of  its  present  order.  The  laws  are 
of  a  miscellaneous  character,  and  many  of  them  might  be  grouped, 
by  rearrangement,  under  the  four  heads  of  {a)  criminal  law,  (b) 
warfare,  (c)  family  and  marriage  relationships,  (<f)  equity  in 
general.  Unlike  the  two  previous  sections  (xii — xvii.  7,  xvii.  8 — 
xviii.  22),  most  of  these  laws  have  no  evident  relation  to  the  Deu- 
teronomic  principle  of  a  single  sanctuary,  and  it  is  among  them 
chiefly  that   we    may   expect    the  process  of  expansion  of  the 


DEUTERONOMY  19.  2,  3.     D  151 

whose  land  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  and  thou 
succeedest  them,  and  dwellest  in  their  cities,  and  in  their 
houses ;  thou  shalt  separate  three  cities  for  thee  in  the  2 
midst  of  thy  land,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee 
to  possess  it.  Thou  shalt  prepare  thee  the  way,  and  3 
divide  the  borders  of  thy  land,  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
causeth  thee  to   inherit,    into   three   parts,    that   every 

original  'Book  of  the  Law'  to  have  operated,  as  by  the  incorpora- 
tion of  groups  of  laws.  This  expectation  is  confirmed  by  such 
phenomena  as  the  occurrence  of  parallel  laws  (xx.  7  and  xxiv. 
5),  the  separation  of  laws  relating  to  the  same  subject  {xxiv.  6 
and  xxiv.  10-13),  and  the  recurrence  of  topics  already  dealt 
with  (xvi.  19  and  xxiv.  17%  as  well  as  by  the  strong  probability 
that  Josiah's  Law-book  was  considerably  shorter  even  than  chaps, 
xii-xxvi,  xxviii  (see  Introd.,  p.  11). 

xix.  1-13.  The  Cities  of  Refuge.  Three  cities  shall  be  set  apart 
in  the  future  territory,  to  give  sanctuary  to  the  manslayer  (verses 
1-3).  They  are  to  be  for  him  only  who  has  killed  another 
without  intent,  and  is  exposed  to  blood-revenge  (verses  4-7).  If 
the  territory  be  increased,  three  more  cities  may  be  set  apart 
(verses  8-10).  He  who  has  killed  another  intentionally  shall  be 
given  over  to  the  avenger  of  blood  (verses  11-13}. 

For  the  earlier  provision  of  sanctuary  (at  the  altar)  see  Exod. 
xxi.  12-14  (cf.  I  Kings  i.  50,  ii.  28),  where  the  manslayer  by 
intent  is  similarly  excluded.  The  destruction  of  local  sanctuaries 
contemplated  by  Deuteronomy  made  some  other  provision  neces- 
sary, since  the  continued  sanctuary  of  the  altar  at  Jerusalem 
would  not  be  easily  accessible  to  all.  For  the  parallel  provision 
of  P,  see  Num.  xxxv.  9-34,  the  chief  differences  there  being  that 
the  man-slayer  is  tried  before  the  '  congregation  '  (the  post-exilic 
religious  community),  and  that  he  may  return  home  free  from 
peril  at  the  death  of  the  high-priest.  The  actual  appointment  of 
these  cities  is  narrated  in  Joshua  xx  (P)  :  cf.  also  Deut.  iv.  41-3, 
and  see  on  verse  9  below. 

1.  succeedest:  'shalt  dispossess*  (same  word  as  'possess'  in 
verse  2^. 

3.  prepare  thee  the  way:  usually  explained  of  keeping  the 
road  in  order;  but,  as  Steuernagel  points  out,  this  would  help 
the  pursuer  as  much  as  the  pursued.  LXX  translates  '  explore 
the  way,' and  as  the  Hebrew  verb  can  mean  'pay  attention  to' 
(Judges  xii.  6.  R.  V.  *  frame  '),  we  may  suppose  '  way  '  refers  to  the 
distance  to  be  travelled,  which,  in  each  case,  is  not  to  be  too  great. 
borders:  'territory.' 


152  DEUTERONOMY  19.  4-9.     D 

.}  manslayer  may  flee  thither.  And  this  is  the  case  of 
the  manslayer,  which  shall  flee  thither  and  live :  whoso 
killeth  his  neighbour  unawares,  and  hated  him  not  in 

5  time  past;  as  when  a  man  goeth  into  the  forest  with  his 
neighbour  to  hew  wood,  and  his  hand  fetcheth  a  stroke 
with  the  axe  to  cut  down  the  tree,  and  the  ^head 
slippeth  from  ^  the  helve,  and  lighteth  upon  his  neighbour, 
that  he  die ;   he  shall  flee  unto  one  of  these  cities  and 

6  live  :  lest  the  avenger  of  blood  pursue  the  manslayer, 
while  his  heart  is  hot,  and  overtake  him,  because  the 
way  is  long,  and  smite  him  mortally ;  whereas  he  was 
not  worthy  of  death,  inasmuch  as  he  hated  him  not  in 

7  time  past.     Wherefore  I  command  thee,  saying.  Thou 

8  shalt  separate  three  cities  for  thee.  And  if  the  Lord  thy 
God  enlarge  thy  border,  as  he  hath  sworn  unto  thy 
fathers,  and  give  thee  all  the  land  which  he  promised  to 

9  give  unto  thy  fathers ;  if  thou  shalt  keep  all  this 
commandment  to  do  it,  which  I  command  thee  this 
day,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  to  walk  ever  in  his 
ways;  then  shalt  thou  add  three  cities  more  for  thee, 

"*  Heb.  iron.  ^  Or,  the  tree 

manslayer :  *  killer,'  a  quite  general  term.  The  *  wild  justice ' 
of  blood-revenge  draws  no  such  distinction  of  motive  as  is  here 
(verse  4f.)  stated.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  Hammurabi  (§§  206, 
227)  allows  the  plea  of  inadvertence  in  criminal  cases. 

5.  the  helve  :  R.  V.  marg.,  the  tree  ;  the  ambiguity  lies  in  the 
Hebrew  word  for  tree,  which  means  '  wood '  also. 

6.  the  aveng-er  of  blood:  (2  Sam.  xiv.  11)  i.e.  the  nearest 
kinsman  of  the  dead  man,  whose  duty  to  avenge  is  not  removed 
by  this  law,  but  only  restrained  by  principles  of  equity.  See 
Introd.,  p.  24. 

the  way  is  long" :  i.  e.  to  the  altar-sanctuary  at  Jerusalem, 
if  these  cities  be  not  also  provided  (verse  7). 

8.  enlargre  thy  border :  xii.  20  (note). 

9.  three  cities  more :  according  to  iv.  41-3,  three  cities  of 
refuge  east  of  Jordan  have  already  been  appointed  by  Moses. 
This  verse  seems  most  naturally  to  refer  to  three  sanctuary-citieg 


DEUTERONOMY  19.  10-14.     D  i53 

beside  these  three  :  that  » innocent  blood  be  not  shed  in  i  o 
the  midst  of  thy  land,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 
thee   for  an  inheritance,  and  so  blood  be  upon  thee. 
But  if  any  man  hate  his  neighbour,  and  lie  in  wait  for  11 
him,  and  rise  up  against  him,  and  smite  him  mortally 
that  he  die  ;  and  he  flee  into  one  of  these  cities  :  then  the  1 2 
elders  of  his  city  shall  send  and  fetch  him  thence,  and 
deliver  him  into  the  hand  of  the  avenger  of  blood,  that 
he  may  die.     Thine  eye  shall  not  pity  him,  but  thou  13 
shalt  put  away  i^the  innocent  blood  from  Israel,  that 
it  may  go  well  with  thee. 

Thou   shalt  not   remove  thy  neighbour's   landmark,  14 
*  Or,  the  blood  of  an  innocent  man      ^  Or,  the  blood  of  the  innocent 

(known  as  existent  to  the  writer)  east  of  Jordan  ;  but  the  problem 
of  the  literary  relation  of  Num.  xxxv.  14  ;  Deut.  iv.  41-3,  xix. 
8  f.  and  Joshua  xx  is  a  complicated  one.     Cf.  Oxf.  Hex.,  II.  p.  353. 

10.  innocent  blood:  which  would  cry  (Gen.  iv.  10)  for 
vengeance  in  its  cum,  and  be  *  upon '  (2  Sam.  xvi.  8)  the  land 
and  the  people.  The  primitive  mind  attributes  a  quasi-automatic 
power  to  blood  that  has  been  '  poured  out.'  Innocent  blood  (xxi. 
8,  xx\di.  25)  is  '  put  away '  only  by  the  death  of  its  shedder 
(verse  13).     See  Introd.,  p.  24. 

llf.  A  necessary  safeguard  is  provided  against  the  abuse  of 
the  above  right  of  sanctuary.  The  decision  as  to  its  legitimacy 
rests  with  the  elders  of  the  city  (xxi.  2-4,  6,  19.  xxii.  15-18,  xxv. 
7-9  :  cf  note  on  xvi.  18  >,  to  which  the  killer  belonged,  who  would 
have  to  decide  on  the  forthcoming  evidence  as  to  motive  (accord- 
ing to  Joshua  XX.  4,  the  elders  of  the  city  of  refuge  had  to  decide 
on  the  man's  original  admission).  The  execution  of  the  death 
sentence  still  remains  with  the  kinsman  of  the  slain — the  only 
case  in  which  the  death-penalty  is  not  executed  by  the  community 
{E.B.  2718). 

xix.  14.   Landmarks  not  to  be  removed. 

remove:  Hebrew  'set  back'  (xxvii.  17;  Prov.  xxii.  28,  xxiii. 
10 ;  Job  xxiv.  2  ;  Hos.  v.  10).  Many  nations  have  put  their 
private  boundary  marks  under  religious  sanctions.  For  the  Roman 
god  Terminus,  see  Merivale,  Romans  under  the  Empire,  iv.  p.  77. 
Babylonian  private  boundary-stones  bear  dedications  to  gods 
(Cook,  Laws  of  Moses,  p.  183)  :  on  the  sacred  character  of  such 
stones,  see   Clay  Trumbull,  The    Threshold  Covenant,   p.    166  f. 


154  DEUTERONOMY  19.  15-20.     D 

which  they  of  old  time  have  set,  in  thine  inheritance 
which  thou  shalt  inherit,  in  the  land  that  the  Lord  thy 
God  giveth  thee  to  possess  it. 

15  One  witness  shall  not  rise  up  against  a  man  for  any 
iniquity,  or  for  any  sin,  in  any  sin  that  he  sinneth  :  at  the 
mouth  of  two  witnesses,  or  at  the  mouth  of  three  witnesses, 

16  shall  a  matter  be  established.  If  an  unrighteous  witness 
rise  up  against  any  man  to  testify  against  him  of  «•  wrong 

17  doing ;  then  both  the  men,  between  whom  the  controversy 
is,  shall  stand  before  the  Lord,  before  the  priests  and  the 

iS  judges  which  shall  be  in  those  days ;  and  the  judges  shall 
make  diligent  inquisition  :  and,  behold,  if  the  witness  be 
a  false  witness,  and   hath   testified   falsely  against   his 

19  brother;  then  shall  ye  do  unto  him,  as  he  had  thought 
to  do  unto  his  brother :  so  shalt  thou  put  away  the  evil 

20  from  the  midst  of  thee.  And  those  which  remain  shall 
hear,  and  fear,  and  shall  henceforth  commit  no  more  any 

*  Or,  rebellion     See  ch.  xiii.  5. 

Hosea  is  the  only  previous  writer  to  refer  to  their  removal.  '  The 
numerous  references  to  the  offence  in  the  later  writings  stand  out 
in  striking  contrast  to  the  silence  of  the  Book  of  the  Covenant' 
(Cook,  op.  citf  p.  195). 

landmark:  'boundary,'  perhaps  a  line  of  stones. 
xix.  15-21.  Law  of  Witness.     At  least  two  witnesses  shall  be 
required    for    conviction    (verse    15).      False   witness    shall    be 
punished  by  rigorous  infliction  on   the  perjurer  of  the  penalty 
he  sought  to  bring  on  another  (verses  16-21  \ 

15.  Cf.  xvii.  6;  Num.  xxxv.  30  (both  with  special  reference  to 
a  death-penalty). 

16.  an  unrigrhteons  witness :  Heb.  '  a  witness  of  violence ' 
(Exod.  xxiii.  i). 

17.  The  case  is  referred  to  the  court  at  Jerusalem  (xvii.  g)  as 
*  before  Yahweh '  (cf.  xii.  7)  implies. 

19.  as  he  had  thoug-ht;  rather  'purposed.'  Somewhat 
similar  laws  are  found  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  :  §  4.  *  If  as 
witness  to  corn  or  money  he  has  lied,  he  shall  himself  bear  the 
sentence  of  that  case '  (cf.  §  3). 


DEUTERONOMY  19.  21— 20.  2.     D  155 

such  evil  in  the  midst  of  thee.     And  thine  eye  shall  not  a  i 
pity ;   life  shall  go  for  Ufe,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth, 
hand  for  hand,  foot  for  foot. 

When  thou  goest  forth  to  battle  against  thine  enemies,  20 
and  seest  horses,  and  chariots,  and  a  people  more  than 
thou,  thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  of  them  :  for  the  Lord  thy 
God  is  with  thee,  which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt.    And  it  shall  be,  when  ye  draw  nigh  unto  the  battle,  2 
that  the  priest  shall  approach  and  speak  unto  the  people, 

21.  The»«5  talionis  is  quoted  as  the  principle  of  the  treatment  of 
the  false  witness.  Cf.  Exod.  xxi.  24  (JE) ;  Lev.  xxiv.  i8,  20  (H). 
For  its  thorough-going  application  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  see 
Cook  {pp.  cit,,  p.  249). 

XX.  1-20.  Laws  of  Warfare.  Since  Yahweh  is  with  Israel  there 
shall  be  no  fear  in  facing  a  more  numerous  foe  (verse  i).  Before 
a  battle,  the  priest  shall  exhort  Israel  to  this  effect  (verses  2-4), 
and  the  officers  shall  proclaim  that  whoever  has  built  a  house, 
planted  a  vineyard,  or  betrothed  a  wife,  without  opportunity  for 
their  enjoyment,  shall  return  home  (verses  5-7)  ;  also,  that  those 
who  are  afraid  shall  return  (verse  8).  Leaders  shall  then  be 
appointed  (verse  9), 

The  city  to  be  attacked  shall  be  allowed,  if  it  surrenders  at  the 
outset,  to  become  subject  to  Israel  (verses  10,  11)  ;  otherwise  its 
males  shall  be  killed  and  all  else  be  Israel's  spoil  verses  12-15). 
This  does  not  apply  to  the  Canaanite  cities,  whose  inhabitants  and 
contents  must  be  '  devoted  '  to  Yahweh  (verses  16-18). 

In  besieging  a  city,  its  fruit-trees  shall  not  be  destroyed  (verses 
19,  20). 

The  original  place  of  this  chapter  may  have  been  after  xxi.  9, 
as  it  interrupts  the  subject  of  chap,  xix,  and  xxi.  1-9,  and  its  own 
subject  is  continued  in  xxi.  10.  No  parallels  to  these  laws  are 
found  in  the  other  O.  T.  codes  ;  their  aim  (characteristic  of  Deutero- 
nomy) is  to  introduce  certain  principles  of  humanity  into  warfare. 
(The  student  should  note  Schwally's  monograph  on  the  subject  of 
this  chapter,  Semitische  Krtegsaltertumer,  I). 

1.  horses  and  chariots :  always  a  source  of  alarm  to  Israel 
(Joshua  xvii.  16 ;  Judges  i.  19). 

2.  the  priest :  his  presence  being  explained  by  the  ancient 
conception  of  warfare  as  a  sacred  act  and  the  camp  as  a  sacred 
place  (xxiii.  pf.).  *The  camp,  the  cradle  of  the  nation,  was  also 
the  oldest  sanctuary.  There  was  Israel  and  there  was  Yahweh  ' 
(Wellhausen,  Israel,  und  Jiid.  Geschichte,  p.  a6).     See  on  verse  17, 


rS6  DEUTERONOMY  20.  3-7.     D 

3  and  shall  say  unto  them,  Hear,  O  Israel,  ye  draw  nigh 
this  day  unto  battle  against  your  enemies :  let  not  your 
heart  faint;  fear  not,  nor  tremble,  neither  be  ye  affrighted 

4  at  them ;  for  the  Lord  your  God  is  he  that  :goeth  with 
you,  to  fight  for  you  against  your  enemies,  to  save  you. 

5  And  the  officers  shall  speak  unto  the  people,  saying. 
What  man  is  there  that  hath  built  a  new  house,  and  hath 
not  dedicated  it  ?  let  him  go  and  return  to  his  house,  lest 

6  he  die  in  the  battle,  and  another  man  dedicate  it.  And 
what  man  is  there  that  hath  planted  a  vineyard,  and 
hath  not  ^-used  the  fruit  thereof?  let  him  go  and  return 
unto  his  house,  lest  he  die  in  the  battle,  and  another  man 

7  use  the  fruit  thereof.  And  what  man  is  there  that  hath 
betrothed  a  wife,  and  hath  not  taken  her  ?  let  him  go  and 

*  See  ch.  xxviii.  30,  and  Lev.  xix.  23-25. 

xxiii.  gf.,  and  note  the  presence  of  the  ark  (i  Sam.  iv.  sf.,  xiv. 
18 ;  2  Sam.  xi.  ii)  on  the  battlefield. 

4.  Bertholet  well  points  out  that  in  the  faith  of  these  verses 
King  Josiah  marched  against  Pharaoh-necoh  at  Megiddo  (2  Kings 
xxiii.  29). 

5.  tlie  officers:  i.  15,  cf.  xvi.  18;  here  possibly  those  subor- 
dinates who  kept  the  lists  of  warriors. 

dedicated  it :  the  spirits  of  the  soil  are  still  propitiated  by 
a  blood -offering  on  the  occasion  of  a  new  building  (Doughtj', 
Arabia  Deserta,  i.  p.  136  ;  Rel.  Sent.,  p.  133  f. :  and  for  Syria,  Curtiss, 
Primitive  Semitic  Religion,  p.  225).  On  the  ground  of  such  customs 
amongst  many  peoples,  Schwally  {op.  cit.,  p.  91  f.)  explains  this  law 
as  an  exclusion  from  the  (sacred)  army  of  those  who  are  likely  to 
'  die  in  the  battle  '  because  of  neglected  rites  and  unappeased 
demons.  He  cites  an  interesting  parallel  from  the  Iliad  {11. 698  f.) : 
Protesilaus,  having  left  his  home  half-finished,  is  slain  by  a  Trojan 
as  he  leaps  ashore  from  the  ship. 

6.  vised  the  fruit  thereof:  Heb.  'make  profane'  by  common 
use  that  which  was  previously  sacred.  According  to  Lev.  xix. 
23-5,  new  fruit-trees  must  be  left  for  three  years  (to  the  spirits 
of  the  soil  ?),  given  to  Yahweh  in  the  fourth,  and  actually  eaten 
by  the  owner  in  the  fifth  year  only.  For  a  warrior  to  forsake  or 
interrupt  the  ceremonies  of  propitiation  in  connexion  with  the 
vineyard  is  to  imperil  his  life  (Schwally,  op.  cit.,  p.  89). 

7.  betrothed  I  Heb.  'paid  the  bride.price  for'  (a  Sam.  iii.  14). 


DEUTERONOMY  20.  8-14.     D  157 

return  unto  his  house,  lest  he  die  in  the  battle,  and 
another  man  take  her.  And  the  officers  shall  speak  8 
further  unto  the  people,  and  they  shall  say,  What  man  is 
there  that  is  fearful  and  fainthearted?  let  him  go  and 
return  unto  his  house,  lest  his  brethren's  heart  melt  as  his 
heart.  And  i*  shall  be,  when  the  officers  have  made  an  9 
end  of  speaking  unto  the  people,  that  they  shall  appoint 
captains  of  hosts  at  the  head  of  the  people. 

When  thou  drawest  nigh  unto  a  city  to  fight  against  it,  10 
then  proclaim  peace  unto  it.     And  it  shall  be,  if  it  make  1 1 
thee  answer  of  peace,  and  open  unto  thee,  then  it  shall 
be,  that  all  the  people  that  is  found  therein  shall  become 
''  tributary  unto  thee,  and  shall  serve  thee.     And  if  it  will  12 
make  no  peace  with  thee,  but  will  make  war  against  thee, 
then  thou  shalt  besiege  it :  and  when  the  Lord  thy  God  13 
delivereth  it  into  thine  hand,  thou  shalt  smite  every  male 
thereof  with  the  edge  of  the  sword :  but  the  women,  and  14 
the  little  ones,  and  the  cattle,  and  all  that  is  in  the  city, 
even  all  the  spoil  thereof^  shalt  thou  take  for  a  prey  unto 
thyself;  and  thou  shalt  eat  the  spoil  of  thine  enemies, 

*  Or,  subject  to  taskwork 

The  most  natural  explanation  of  this  law  is  that  it  seeks  to  ensure 
posterity  before  the  perils  of  battle.  According  to  xxiv.  5  the 
newly-married  warrior  is  released  from  service  for  a  year. 

8.  feaorful :  cf.  Judges  vii.  3.  Schwally  (o/>.  «V.,p.  97)  refers  to 
the  physical  tests  of  courage  applied  amongst  some  primitive 
peoples,  failure  to  meet  which  will  exclude  from  war. 

9.  captains  of  hosts:  the  leaders  of  divisions  can  only  be 
appointed  when  the  army  is  purged  of  the  unfit ;  '  they '  will 
refer  not  to  the  (suborxdinate)  officers,  but  is  used  loosely  of 
those  to  whom  this  appointment  belonged.  Driver  compares 
I  Mace.  iii.  55,  56. 

11.  tributary  :  Hebrewas  in  R.  V.  marg.  :  see  note  on  Joshua 
xvi.  10. 

13  f.  The  herem  or  ban  (verse  17)  to  be  applied  to  cities  outside 
Canaan  in  a  partial  form  (males  only)  ;  but  in  its  severest  form  to 
the  Canaanite  cities  (verse  17^ 


158  DEUTERONOMY  20.  15-17.     D 

15  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  thee.  Thus  shalt 
thou  do  unto  all  the  cities  which  are  very  far  off  from 

1 6  thee,  which  are  not  of  the  cities  of  these  nations.  But  of 
the  cities  of  these  peoples,  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
giveth   thee  for   an   inheritance,  thou  shalt   save   alive 

17  nothing  that  breatheth:  but  thou  shalt  » utterly  destroy 
them  j  the  Hittite,  and  the  Amorite,  the  Canaanite,  and 

*  Heb.  devote. 

16.  nothing' that  "breatlietlx :  cf.  Joshua  xi.  14,  where  the  phrase 
refers  to  human  beings  as  contrasted  with  animals,  as  is  its  usual 
meaning  (though  *  breath '  may  be  used  of  animals,  as  well  as 
man,  Gen.  vii.  22). 

17.  utterly  destroy:  (vii.  2)  '  ban  '  or  '  devote,'  i.  e.  put  under 
the  herem.  The  same  word,  with  the  same  meaning,  occurs  in 
the  inscription  of  Mesha  (Moabite  Stone),  where  Meshasays  that, 
having  captured  Nebo  from  Israel,  he  slew  the  whole  of  its  7,000 
inhabitants  and  dragged  the  vessels  of  Yahweh  before  his  god 
Kemosh,  because  he  had  '  devoted '  it  to  Ashtar-Kemosh  (lines 
16,  17).  The  root  meaning  of  herem,  variously  applied  in  the 
different  Semitic  languages,  denotes  that  which  is  inviolable  or 
sacred,  e.g.  to  the  deity  (xiii.  17,  R.  V.  marg. ;  see  previous 
verse  for  the  herem).  The  herem  is,  however,  neither  a  sacrifice 
nor  a  present  to  the  deity  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  a  taboo,  the 
primitive  method  of  alienating  anything  from  ordinary  use.  The 
act  of  destruction  naturally  ensures  the  complete  observance  of 
the  taboo.  The  motive  that  might  lead  to  it  in  the  special  case  of 
the  herem  taboo  is  illustrated  by  Num.  xxi.  2,  where  the  hereof 
is  a  bargain  made  to  obtain  the  help  of  Yahweh.  Examples  of 
the  herem  will  be  found  in  i  Sam.  xv.  3  (Amalek  to  be  slain,  '  both 
man  and  woman,  infant  and  suckling,  ox  and  sheep,  camel  and 
ass')  and  Joshua  vi.  17 f.  (Jericho;  where  men  and  things  are 
'  devoted,*  apart  from  the  exceptions  there  noted,  verses  24,  25, 
whilst  the  theft  and  punishment  of  Achan,  chap,  vii,  vividly 
illustrate  the  nature  of  the  ^lerem),  and  the  idea  doubtless 
underlies  other  passages  where  the  actual  term  does  not  occur 
(i  Sam.  xxii.  iif.;  2  Kings  xv.  16;  2  Chron.  xxv.  12  f.).  The 
Israelite  idolater  is  to  be  '  devoted '  (Exod.  xxii.  20),  as  well  as 
the  idolater  of  Canaan.  The  Deuteronomic  references  (e.  g.  verse 
18)  give  the  herem  a  utilitarian  interpretation  ;  it  will  save  Israel 
from  the  perils  of  a  heathen  environment.  Parallels  amongst  other 
peoples  to  the  general  conception,  with  fuller  information,  will  be 
found  in  Schwally's  discussion  (op.  a'ty  pp.  29-44),  or  the  article 
'  Ban  '  in  E.B, 


DEUTERONOMY  20.  18— 21.  i.     D         159 

the  Perizzite,  the  Hivite,  and  the  Jebusite  ;  as  the  Lord 
thy  God  hath  commanded  thee :  that  they  teach  you  not  to  18 
do  after  all  their  abominations,  which  they  have  done  unto 
their  gods;  so  should  ye  sin  against  the  Lord  your  God. 

When  thou  shalt  besiege  a  city  a  long  time,  in  making  19 
war  against  it  to  take  it,  thou  shalt  not  destroy  the  trees 
thereof  by  wielding  an  axe  against  them ;  for  thou  mayest 
eat  of  them,  and  thou  shalt  not  cut  them  down ;   for  is 
the  tree  of  the  field  man,  that  it  should  be  besieged  of 
thee  ?   Only  the  trees  which  thou  knowest  that  they  be  30 
not  trees  for  meat,  thou  shalt  destroy  and  cut  them  down 
and   thou   shalt   build   bulwarks   against   the   city   that 
maketh  war  with  thee,  until  it  fall. 

If  one  be  found  slain  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  21 


the  Hittite,  &c.  :  see  on  vii.  i,  where  the  Girgashite  is  added 
to  complete  the  full  list  of  seven. 

commanded  tliee :  vii.  2  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  31-33. 

19.  For  the  destruction  of  trees,  as  one  of  the  operations  of 
warfare,  see  2  Kings  iii.  19,  25.  Mohammed,  for  example,  brought 
pressure  to  bear  on  the  Banu  Madir  by  the  destruction  of  their 
(special)  date-trees.  The  Kur'an  (LIX)  is  made  to  justify  this 
breach  of  Kur'anic  law  (cf.  Margoliouth,  Mohammed,  p.  317). 
Tiglath-Pileser  III  exults  in  the  same  act  {E.B.,  4512).  For 
private  property  in  trees,  see  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  §  59. 

is  the  tree  of  the  field  man  ?  a  slight  change  in  the  Hebrew 
pointing  gives  this  sense,  which  is  that  of  the  versions.  The 
reason  for  the  prohibition  is  Deuteronomic  ;  but  more  primitive 
ideas  of  the  spirits  dwelling  in  trees  {Rel.  Sem.,  p.  133)  first 
secured  the  preservation  of  their  abodes.  The  date-tree  was 
worshipped  by  the  tribe  Khozaa  (Burckhardt,  Arabia,  i.  p.  299; 
quoted  by  Lubbock,  Origin  0/  Civilisation,  p.  305). 

20.  trees  for  meat :  i.  e.  fruit-trees  (Heb.,  trees  of  food). 
build  bulwarks  :  or  siege-works,  of  the  wood  of  the  other 

trees   cut  down  :  cf.  Jer.   vi.   6.     Assyrian  siege-operations  are 
represented  pictorially  in  E.B.  s. v.  'Siege.' 

xxi.  1-9.  Expiation  of  murder  by  some  person  unknown.  If 
a  murdered  man  be  found,  the  murderer  being  unknown,  the 
authorities  of  the  nearest  city  shall  be  responsible  for  the  removal 
of  the  peril  of  shed  blood  (verses  1,  2).     This  removal  they  shall 


i6o  DEUTERONOMY  21.  2-4.     D 

God  giveth  thee  to  possess  it,  lying  in  the  field,  and  it  be 

2  not  known  who  hath  smitten  him  :  then  thy  elders  and 
thy  judges  shall  come  forth,  and  they  shall  measure  unto 

3  the  cities  which  are  round  about  him  that  is  slain  :  and  it 
shall  be,  that  the  city  which  is  nearest  unto  the  slain 
man,  even  the  elders  of  that  city  shall  take  an  heifer  of 
the  herd,  which  hath  not  been  wrought  with,  and  which 

4  hath  not  drawn  in  the  yoke ;  and  the  elders  of  that  city 
shall  bring  down  the  heifer  unto  a  valley  with  running 
water,  which  is  neither  plowed  nor  sown,  and  shall  break 

effect,  under  the  eyes  of  the  priests,  by  breaking  a  heifer's  neck 
and  making  a  representative  declaration  of  innocence  (verses  3-9). 
There  is  no  parallel  to  this  law  in  the  other  O.  T.  codes,  but 
its  two  underlying  ideas,  the  peril  of  shed  blood  (Introd.,  p.  24)  and 
corporate  responsibility,  find  abundant  illustration  elsewhere.  The 
latter  is  also  illustrated  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§§  23,  24). 
For  the  present  responsibility  of  Arab  sheikhs  for  their  tribesmen, 
see  Doughty,  Arabia  Deserta  \,  p.  176  ;  according  to  th€  ancient 
Arab  law,  the  people  of  a  place  in  which  a  slain  man  was  found 
had  to  swear  that  they  were  not  ihe.  murderers  (W.  R.  Smith, 
Kinship,  p.  263).  The  last-named  writer  thinks  (MS.  note 
quoted  by  Driver)  that  the  aim  of  the  present  law  was  to  preclude 
blood-feud  ;  we  may  also  think,  as  the  above  parallels  suggest,  of 
the  preservation  of  order  in  a  district.  But  in  any  case,  there  is 
the  underl3nng  idea  of  shed  blood  as  itself  a  peril. 

1.  in  the  field ;  i.  e.  the  open  country,  away  from  inhabited  spots. 

2.  thy  elders:  (cf  xix.  n  f) ;  the  sheikhs  are  the  natural  local 
authorities,  to  whom  the  judgfes  (xvi.  18)  are  added.  The 
arrival  of  the  priests  in  verse  5  after  the  ceremony  is  begun  is 
peculiar,  and  the  reference  to  them  suggests  its  own  addition  by 
a  writer  who  regarded  the  act  as  sacrificial  and  therefore  requiring 
their  presence  (so  Bertholet  and  Steuernagel). 

3.  an  heifer  of  the  herd :  which,  as  the  sequel  shows,  is  to 
take  the  place  of  the  unknown  murderer,  and  therefore  must  not 
have  been  profaned  by  common  use  (cf.  xv.  19). 

drawn  in  the  yoke  :  the  same  restriction  in  the  case  of  the 
red  heifer  (Num.  xix.  2)  also  for  ceremonial  use. 

4.  a  valley  with  runningf  water:  Heb.  'a  perennial  wady,' 
i.  e.  one  that  has  water  through  the  dry  season.  The  wady,  like 
the  heifer,  must  be  one  not  profaned-  by  common  use  ;  it  has 
already  a  quasi-sacred  character  as  an  ever-flowing  stream,  whose 
watero  will  carry  away  the  heifer's  blood  ;  as  the  wady  Kishon  was 


DEUTERONOMY  21.  5-9.     D  r6i 

the  heifer's  neck  there  in  the  valley  :    and  the  priests  5 
the  sons  of  Levi  shall  come  near  ;  for  them  the  Lord 
thy  God  hath  chosen  to  minister  unto  him,  and  to  bless 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  and  according  to  their  word 
shall  every  controversy  and  every  stroke  be  :  and  all  the  6 
elders  of  that  city,  who  are  nearest  unto  the  slain  man, 
shall  wash  their  hands  over  the  heifer  whose  neck  was 
broken  in  the  valley  :  and  they  shall  answer  and  say,  Our  7 
hands  have  not  shed  this  blood,  neither  have  our  eyes 
seen  it.     Forgive,  O  Lord,  thy  people  Israel,  whom  thou  8 
hast  redeemed,  and  suffer  not  innocent  blood  to  remain 
in  the  midst  of  thy  people  Israel.     And  the  blood  shall 
be  forgiven  them.     So  shalt  thou  put  away  the  innocent  9 

perhaps  chosen  (Wellhausen,  op.  cit,,  p.  89,  note  2,  cited  by 
Bertholet)  to  be  the  place  of  slaughter  of  the  prophets  of  Baal 
(i  Kings  xviii.  40).  There  may  also  be  some  connexion  with  the 
idea  that  a  corpse  defiles  water.  Thus  when  a  corpse  had  been 
carried  across  the  stream  at  Nebk,  the  inhabitants  found  it  necessary 
to  cut  the  throats  of  a  number  of  sheep  over  the  stream,  so  that 
their  blood  might  run  into  the  water,  and  the  disastrous  floods  of 
the  river-spirit  be  checked  (Curtiss,  op.  cit.,  p.  200).  The  broken 
neck  of  the  heifer  may  have  been  supposed  originally  to  operate 
on  the  unknown  murderer  by  symbolic  magic. 

5.  tlie  priests :  see  on  verse  2  ;  and  for  the  appended  reasons 
of  their  appearance,  cf.  x.  8,  xviii.  5  ;  xvii.  8f. 

6.  v/ash  their  hands :  as  did  Pilate  (Matt,  xxvii.  24  :  cf.  Pss. 
xxvi.  6,  Ixxiii.  13),  such  acts  being  for  ancient  thought  more  than 
what  we  mean  by  symbolic  ;  they  actually  did  something  to  make 
innocent  the  person  performing  them. 

8.  rorgive:  xxxii.  43  (R.V.  'make  expiation').  The  root 
meaning  of  the  Hebrew  word  [kapper)  is  'cover'  :  cf.  Gen.  xxxii. 
20,  '  I  will  appease  him  (with  the  present) ' ;  Heb.  *  I  will  cover 
his  face  ',  so  that  he  may  not  see  the  wrong  previously  done  to 
him.  In  later  usage  it  is  used  either  of  the  priest  (Lev.  iv.  20, 
'  make  atonement '),  or  of  God,  who  *  covers,'  or  regards  as  covered, 
the  wrongdoer  (as  here)  or  the  wrong  (Jer.  xviii.  23,  '  forgive  not 
their  iniquity'). 

redeemed  :  by  the  deliverance  from  Egypt  (vii.  8\ 

9.  thou:  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew,  as  defining  Israel's  duty  in 
contrast  with  the  previous  appeal  to  Yahweh. 

put  away :  '  exterminate '  as  in  xix.  13  ;  note  throughout  the 


i62  DEUTERONOMY  21.  10-13.     D 

blood  from  the  midst  of  thee,  when  thou  shalt  do  that 
which  is  right  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord. 

10  When  thou  goest  forth  to  battle  against  thine  enemies, 
and  the  Lord  thy  God  delivereth  them  into  thine  hands, 

11  and  thou  earnest  them  away  captive,  and  seest  among  the 
captives  a  beautiful  woman,  and  thou  hast  a  desire  unto 

1 2  her,  and  w^ouldest  take  her  to  thee  to  wife ;  then  thou 
shalt  bring  her  home  to  thine  house  ;  and  she  shall  shave 

13  her  head,  and  pare  her  nails;  and  she  shall  put  the 
raiment  of  her  captivity  from  off  her,  and  shall  remain  in 
thine  house,  and  bewail  her  father  and  her  mother  a  full 
month  :  and  after  that  thou  shalt  go  in  unto  her,  and  be 


idea  of  the  shed   blood   as  forming   a  physical-psychical  peril ; 
no  idea  of  moral  guilt  is  involved. 

xxi.  10-14.  Marriage  with  women  captured  in  war.  A  female 
captive  must  not  be  made  a  concubine  till  the  expiration  of  a 
month  (verses  10-13).  She  must  not  subsequently  be  sold  as 
a  slave  (verse  14). 

10,  For  the  phrases,  cf.  xx.  i,  13  ;  the  paragraph  belongs  to 
the  rules  of  warfare. 

12.  shave  her  head  and  pare  her  nails :  the  hair  and  the  nails, 
from  their  rapid  growth,  were  regarded  by  primitive  peoples  as 
special  seats  of  vitality.  They  are  cut  off  here  because  the  defilement 
either  of  death  or  of  the  woman's  heathen  environment  is  supposed 
to  cling  to  them  in  particular  {Rel.  Sent.,  p.  333  note  5)  ;  or  viewed 
as  part  of  the  mourning  customs  (Bertholet)  in  connexion  with 
the  kinsmen  of  the  woman,  who  are  assumed  to  have  been  slain. 
For  the  cutting  of  the  hair  in  such  cases  see  xiv.  i  ;  for  this,  and 
the  paring  of  the  nails,  see  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough,  i.  388 ; 
for  the  removal  of  the  clothes,  Nassau,  Fetichism  in  West  Africa, 
p.  22a.  For  parallel  customs  in  Arabian  mourning,  see  Rel.  Sem., 
p.  428  ;  Kinship,  p.  178.  The  Arabian  customs  (for  a  widow)  seem 
to  point  specially  to  the  impurity  of  previous  cohabitation  (cf. 
Wellhausen,  Reste'^,  p.  171). 

13.  the  raiment  of  her  captivity :  i.  e.  the  clothes  worn  v/hen 
she  was  taken  captive, 

a  full  month  :  xxxiv.  8  ;  Num,  xx,  29.  Deuteronomy  here 
emphasizes  the  full  dischargeof  funeral  obligations.  For  Mohammed 
'captivity  ipso  facto  dissolved   marriage;    and   the  captive  wife 


DEUTERONOMY  21.  14-17.     D  163 

her  husband,  and  she  shall  be  thy  wife.     And  it  shall  be,  14 
if  thou  have  no  delight  in  her.  then  thou  shalt  let  her  go 
whither  she  will ;  but  thou  shalt  not  sell  her   at  all  for 
money,  thou  shalt  not  deal  with  her  ^  as  a  slave,  because 
thou  hast  humbled  her. 

If  a  man  have  two  wives,  the  one  beloved,  and  the  15 
other  hated,  and  they  have  borne  him  children,  both 
the  beloved  and  the  hated ;   and  if  the  firstborn  son  be 
hers  that  was  hated ;  then  it  shall  be,  in  the  day  that  he  16 
causeth  his  sons  to  inherit  that  which  he  hath,  that  he 
may  not  make   the   son    of  the  beloved   the  firstborn 
^>  before  the  son  of  the  hated,  which  is  the  firstborn  :  but  1 7 
*  Or,  as  a  chattel  ^  Or,  during  the  life  time  of 


might  at  once  become  the  concubine  of  the  conqueror'  (Margoliouth, 
Mohammed^  p.  461). 

14.  whither  she  will ;  Heb.  *  according  to  her  soul,'  i,  e.  in 
freedom  as  opposed  to  slavery  :  cf.  Exod.  xxi.  8. 

deal  with  her  as  a  slave :  '  deal  tyrannically  with  her  ; ' 
the  same  word  as  in  xxiv,  7. 

xxi.  15-21.  The  rights  and  duties  of  sons.  The  double  portion 
of  the  firstborn  son  is  inalienable,  though  his  mother  be  not  the 
father's  favourite  wife  (verses  15-17).  A  persistently  disobedient 
son  shall  be  brought  by  his  parents  before  the  elders  and  stoned 
to  death  (verses  18-21). 

15.  two  wives:  e.  g.  Leah  and  Rachel  (Gen.  xxix.  30),  Hannah 
and  Peninnah  (i  Sam.  i.  6),  both  cases  illustrating  the  difficulties 
connected  with  the  polygamy  practised  in  Israel  ;  the  Semitic 
languages,  indeed,  have  a  word  in  common  for  the  rival  wife. 
The  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§§  144-8)  appears  to  allow  a  second  wife 
(or  concubine)  only  when  the  first  wife  is  childless,  or  has  been 
seized  with  sickness. 

16.  in  the  day,  &c.  :  i.  e.  when  he  announces  (cf.  Gen.  xxiv. 
36)  the  division  of  his  property  to  be  made  at  his  death  ;  there 
were  no  written  wills  amongst  the  Hebrews  prior  to  the  Greek 
and  Roman  period  (Nowack,  Archdologie,  §  64). 

before :  Heb.  '  upon  the  face  of  ;  in  Gen.  xi.  28,  Num.  iii. 
4,  as  in  R.  V.  marg.,  but  R.  V.  text  is  here  preferable,  in  sense  of 
'  in  preference  to  '  (v.  7  ;  Exod.  xx.  3). 

M    2 


i64  DEUTERONOMY  21.  .8-21.     D 

he  shall  acknowledge  the  firstborn,  the  son  of  the  hated, 
by  giving  him  a  double  portion  of  all  that  he  hath :  for 
he  is  the  beginning  of  his  strength ;  the  right  of  the  first- 
born is  his. 

18  If  a  man  have  a  stubborn  and  rebellious  son,  which 
will  not  obey  the  voice  of  his  father,  or  the  voice  of  his 
mother,  and  though  they  chasten  him,  will  not  hearken 

rg  unto  them  :  then  shall  his  father  and  his  mother  lay  hold 
on  him,  and  bring  him  out  unto  the  elders  of  his  city,  and 

no  unto  the  gate  of  his  place  ;  and  they  shall  say  unto  the 
elders  of  his  city.  This  our  son  is  stubborn  and  rebellious, 
he  will  not  obey  our  voice ;  he  is  a  riotous  liver,  and  a 

21  drunkard.  And  all  the  men  of  his  city  shall  stone  him 
with  stones,  that  he  die :  so  shalt  thou  put  away  the  evil 
from  the  midst  of  thee ;  and  all  Israel  shall  hear,  and 
fear. 


17.  a  double  portion:  i.e.  as  the  Hebrew  'a  share  of  two,' 
twice  as  much  as  any  of  the  other  sons  :  cf.  2  Kings  ii.  9 ;  Zech. 
xiii.  8  (the  same  Heb.  phrase). 

tlis  right  of  tli8  firstljorn :  for  the  early  history  of  primo- 
geniture, see  Maine's  Ancient  Law,  chap,  vii :  it  is  not  recognized 
in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  which  supposes  an  equal  division  to 
take  place,  apart  from  special  gifts  or  allowances  (§§  165,  166). 

18  f.  Through  the  action  of  the  community  the  family  jurisdiction 
is  maintained  (cf.  Gen.  xxxviii.  24  :  E.B.  2717) ;  laws  in  Exod.  xxi. 
15,  17  (Lev.  XX.  9)  assign  death  to  the  son  who  strikes  or  curses 
his  parents  :  cf.  v.  16,  xxvii.  16.  The  Code  of  Hammurabi  enacts 
that  '  if  a  man  has  struck  his  father,  one  shall  cut  off  his  hands ' 

(§  195). 

19.  unto  the  gate:  xxii.  15,  xxv.  7  ;  Ruth  iv.  if.;  on  Syrian 
gateways,  as  courts  of  justice,  &c.,  see  D.B.  ii.  pp.  1 10-13; 
Thomson,  The  Land  and  the  Book.,  p.  27. 

20.  a  riotous  liver :  or  '  glutton '  ;  Heb.  one  who  makes  light 
of,  squanders,  used  especially  of  gluttony  (Prov.  xxiii.  21). 

21.  Cf.  xiii.  ro,  xvii.  5,  xxii.  24.  The  original  absolute  power 
of  parents  over  children  (Exod.  xxi.  7;  Gen.  xxxi.  14  f.)  is  here 
shown  in  process  of  limitation  ;  the  community  control,  while  they 
enforce,  the  authority  of  the  parents. 


DEUTERONOMY  21.  22—22.  3.     D         165 

And  if  a  man  have  committed  a  sin  worthy  of  death,  22 
and  he  be  put  to  deaths  and  thou  hang  him  on  a  tree ; 
his  body  shall  not  remain  all  night  upon  the  tree,  but  23 
thou  shalt  surely  bury  him  the  same  day;  for  he  that 
is  hanged  is  ^  accursed  of  God ;  that  thou  defile  not  thy 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for  an  in- 
heritance. 

Thou  shalt  not  see  thy  brother's  ox  or  his  sheep  go  22 
astray,  and  hide  thyself  from  them :    thou  shalt  surely 
bring  them  again  unto  thy  brother.     And  if  thy  brother  2 
be  not  nigh  unto  thee,  or  if  thou  know  him  not,  then  thou 
shalt  bring  it  home  to  thine  house,  and  it  shall  be  with 
thee  until  thy  brother  seek  after  it,  and  thou  shalt  restore 
it  to  him  again.     And  so  shalt  thou  do  with  his  ass  ;  and  ?> 
so  shalt  thou  do  with  his  garment ;  and  so  shalt  thou  do 
*  Heb.  the  curse  of  God. 

xxi.  22,  23.   The  suspended  body  to  be  buried  the  same  day. 

22.  he  be  put  to  death  :  i.  e.  by  some  method  other  than  by 
hanging ;  the  latter  was  applied  to  the  body  already  dead  (Joshua 
viii.  29,  X.  26 ;  i  Sam.  xxxi.  10;  2  Sam.  iv.  12). 

23.  accursed  of  Crod :  (Gal.  iii.  13)  probably,  as  Dillmann 
suggests,  because  those  whose  bodies  were  so  treated  were 
'devoted,'  or  were  criminals  of  the  darkest  type  ;  we  must  connect 
with  this  the  primitive  conception  of  the  peril  to  the  community  of 
a  corpse  thus  publicly  exposed  ('  that  thou  defile  not  thy  land'). 

xxii.  1-12.  Various  Laws  :  regard  for  neighbours  (verses  1-4) ; 
distinction  of  sex  (verse  5)  ;  mother-bird  to  be  spared  (verses 
6,  7);  battlements  (verses  8,  9);  mixtures  (verses  10,  11); 
tassels  (verse  12). 

1  f.  See  Exod.  xxiii.  4,  5,  where  also,  in  briefer  form,  it  is 
commanded  that  the  strayed  ox  or  ass  be  restored  and  the  fallen 
beast  of  burden  lifted.  There,  however,  these  belong  to  *  thine 
enemy ' ;  '  brother '  is  a  wider  term,  though  it  makes  the  law  less 
emphatic.  Verses  2,  3  (except  the  reference  to  ass)  are  here 
added  to  the  earlier  form  of  the  law. 

hide  thyself;  Isa.  Iviii.  7  ;  Ps.  I  v.  i  :  cf.  Isa.  liii.  3  (a  different 
word).     Cf.  Luke  x.  31,  32. 

3.  According  to  Lev.  vi.  1-7,  failure  to  restore  a  lost  article  is 


i66  DEUTERONOMY  22.  4-7.     D 

with  every  lost  thing  of  thy  brother's,  which  he  hath  lost, 
and  thou  hast  found  :  thou  mayest  not  hide  thyself. 

4  Thou  shalt  not  see  thy  brother's  ass  or  his  ox  fallen 
down  by  the  way,  and  hide  thyself  from  them  :  thou  shalt 
surely  help  him  to  lift  them  up  again. 

5  A  woman  shall  not  wear  that  which  pertaineth  unto  a 
man,  neither  shall  a  man  put  on  a  woman's  garment :  for 
whosoever  doeth  these  things  is  an  abomination  unto  the 
Lord  thy  God. 

6  If  a  bird's  nest  chance  to  be  before  thee  in  the  way,  in 
any  tree  or  on  the  ground,  with  young  ones  or  eggs,  and 
the  dam  sitting  upon  the  youngs  or  upon  the  eggs,  thou 

7  shalt  not  take  the  dam  with  the  young  :  thou  shalt  in  any 
wise  let  the  dam  go,  but  the  young  thou  mayest  take  unto 
thyself;  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and  that  thou  mayest 
prolong  thy  days. 


treated  as  theft  and  punished  with  a  fine  of  one-fifth  the  value. 
In  the  Code  of  Hammurabi,  identification  by  witnesses  is  required 
in  the  case  of  a  lost  (stolen)  article  found  in  another's  hands 
(§§  9-13). 

xxii.  5.  Sexual  Morality.  The  sexes  must  not  interchange  attire. 
This  law  refers  to  practices,  like  those  in  connexion  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Cybele  or  Aphrodite,  in  which  men  acted  as  women  and 
women  as  men  :  see  Robertson  Smith,  O.T.J.C.',  p.  365. 

abomination :  vii.  25  :  of.  xviii.  12  for  a  similar  religious 
application  of  this  term. 

xxii.  6,  7.  Birds^  Nests.  The  mother-bird  is  not  to  be  taken 
with  her  eggs  or  young  from  a  nest  found  by  chance.  The  law  may 
here  illustrate  the  'kindness  to  animals'  of  Deuteronomy  (as  in 
XXV.  4  and  xxii.  1-4),  but  probably  goes  back  to  some  earlier  con- 
ception such  as  the  '  right  of  user '  suggested  by  Fenton  (quoted 
by  Driver) ;  the  bird  is  common  property,  its  produce  alone 
belongs  to  the  person  finding  it. 

that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  &c.  :  cf.  v.  16  ;  the  same 
promise  is  attached  to  sparing  the  mother-bird  as  to  honouring 
parents. 


DEUTERONOMY  22.  8-10.     D  167 

When  thou  buildest  a  new  house,  then  thou  shalt  make  8 
a  battlement  for  thy  roof,  that  thou  bring  not  blood  upon 
thine  house,  if  any  man  fall  from  thence.    Thou  shalt  not  9 
sow  thy  vineyard  with  two  kinds  of  seed  :  lest  the  » whole 
fruit  be  ^  forfeited,  the  seed  which  thou  hast  sown,  and 
the  increase  of  the  vineyard. 

Thou  shalt  not  plow  with  an  ox  and  an  ass  together.  10 
*  Heh,  fulness,  ^  Heb.  consecrated. 

xxii.  8.  Parapets  to  House-roofs.  The  nearest  parallel  is  that  of 
Exod.  xxi.  33,  34,  which  makes  a  man  who  has  left  a  pit  uncovered 
responsible  for  the  loss  of  an  ox  or  ass  falling  into  it.  A  group  of 
laws  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  affirming  the  responsibility  of 
builders  for  accidents  comes  nearer  to  the  present  injunction 
(§§  229-33). 

a  battlement  for  tliy  roof:  see  on  Joshua  ii.  6. 

blood  upon  thine  house:  cf.  xix.  10,  xxi.  8.  Primitive 
thought  extends  the  idea  of  'guilt'  not  only  to  animals  (Exod. 
xxi.  28  f.),  but  also  to  inanimate  objects  (Frazer,  The  Golden  Boughj 
ii.  p.  294). 

xxii.  9-1 1.  Mixtures  {of  seedy  ploughing  animals,  and  stuff)  for- 
bidden. For  the  first  and  last  see  Lev.  xix.  19  ;  the  second  and 
the  reason  for  the  first  are  here  only.  The  origin  of  these  laws 
is  obscure  :  see  Introd.,  p.  27. 

9.  vineyard:  Lev.  xix.  19,  'field,'  an  extension  of  the  present  law. 
Vines  are  planted  far  enough  apart  for  the  plough  to  pass  between 
{D.B.  iv.  868),  so  that  there  would  be  room  for  the  sowing  of  a 
different  crop. 

two  kinds  of  seed :  *  the  modern  Palestinian  custom  which 
compels  a  man  to  sow  on  his  strips  of  land  the  same  seed  as  the 
rest,  in  order  that  all  may  harvest  at  the  same  time,  suggests  an 
explanation  '  (Cook,  The  Laws  of  Moses,  p.  195).  This  utiHtarian 
explanation,  however,  belongs  to  a  later  age  ;  some  practice  in 
connexion  with  heathen  cults  is  more  likely  to  be  involved  ;  e.  g. 
the  symbolical  representation  of  the  union  of  deities  (Steuernagel). 

be  forfeited :  R.  V.  marg.  '  consecrated,'  i.  e.  to  the  sanctuary 
(Joshua  vi.  19).  The  man  will  lose  both  his  grapes  and  his  other 
crop  as  a  penalty  for  his  irreligious  act. 

10.  Cf.  Lev.  xix.  19,  '  Thou  shalt  not  make  thy  cattle  breed  in 
two  kinds,'  which  may  state  more  directly  the  general  purpose  of 
the  present  law.  '  Mules,  however,  were  used  in  David's  time 
and  later  (2  Sam.  xviii.  9;  i  Kings  i.  33,  xviii.  5)'  (S.B.O.T., 
Lev.,  p.  89).  An  ox  and  an  ass  yoked  together  may  still  be  found 
in  Palestine. 


i68  DEUTERONOMY  22.  11-15.     D 

11  Thou  shalt  not  wear  a  mingled  stuif,  wool  and  linen 
together. 

1 2  Thou  shalt  make  thee  ^  fringes  upon  the  four  borders 
of  thy  vesture,  wherewith  thou  coverest  thyself. 

1 3  If  any  man  take  a  wife,  and  go  in  unto  her,  and  hate 

14  her,  and  lay  shameful  things  to  her  charge,  and  bring  up 
an  evil  name  upon  her,  and  say,  I  took  this  woman,  and 
when  I  came  nigh  to  her,  I  found  not  in  her  the  tokens 

1 5  of  virginity  :  then  shall  the  father  of  the  damsel,  and  her 

'^  Or,  twisted  threads 


11.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  practice  aimed  at,  though  the 
context  (verses  5,  13  f.)  suggests  some  sexual  reference;  perhaps 
the  union  of  male  and  female  deities  was  tacitly  recognized  by 
this  (Egyptian  ?)  cloth. 

xxii.  12.  Memorial  tassels  to  be  wont.  Cf.  Num.  xv,  37-41,  where 
the  reason  for  wearing  these  is  given  (cf.  vi.  8,  xi.  18). 

fringes:  (R. V.  marg.  to  be  read)  'twisted  cords'  called 
'Zizith'  or  tassels  in  Num.  xv.  38  {D.B.  i.  p.  627).    Introd.,  p.  49. 

vesture  :  the  outer  garment  made  of  a  square  piece  of  cloth, 
used  also  to  sleep  in  (Exod.  xxii.  26). 

xxii.  13-30.  Sexual  Relations.  If  a  man  questions  the  previous 
virginity  of  his  newly  married  wife,  her  parents  shall  bring  the 
circumstantial  proof  to  the  elders,  and  the  man  shall  be  fined  and 
lose  the  right  of  divorce.  If  the  proof  is  not  forthcoming,  the 
woman  shall  be  stoned  to  death  (verses  13-21).  Adultery  shall 
be  punished  by  the  death  of  both  persons  (verse  22).  The  same 
penalty  applies  in  the  case  of  the  seduction  of  a  betrothed  woman, 
taking  place  in  the  city  ;  in  the  country,  the  woman  shall  be 
presumed  innocent,  and  the  man  only  shall  die  (verses  23-7). 
In  the  case  of  an  unbetrothed  woman,  the  man  seducing  her  shall 
marry  her  without  right  of  divorce,  paying  the  bride-price  to  her 
father  (verses  28,  29).  An  inheriting  son  shall  not  marry  his 
father's  wife  (verse  30). 

14.  the  tokens  of  vir^nity:  see  the  (Latin)  Appendix  of 
Trumbull's  The  Threshold  Covenant,  pp.  243-52.  Parallels 
amongst  other  peoples  are  cited  by  Westermarck,  The  History  of 
Human  Marriage,  pp.  123,  124.  Physiologically,  the  evidence  is 
by  no  means  conclusive  ;  it  is  still,  however,  regarded  as  essential 
in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  as  elsewhere  also. 


DEUTERONOMY  22.  16-22.     D  169 

mother,  take  and  bring  forth  the  tokens  of  the  damsel's 
virginity  unto  the  elders  of  the  city  in  the  gate  :   and  the  1 6 
damsel's  father  shall  say  unto  the  elders,   I  gave  my 
daughter  unto  this  man  to  wife,  and  he  hateth  her ;  and,  1 7 
lo,  he  hath  laid  shameful  things  to  her  charge,  saying,  I 
found  not  in  thy  daughter  the  tokens  of  virginity ;  and 
yet  these  are  the  tokens  of  my  daughter's  virginity.     And 
they  shall  spread  the  garment  before  the  elders  of  the 
city.     And  the  elders  of  that  city  shall  take  the  man  and  18 
chastise  him ;   and  they  shall  amerce  him  in  an  hundred  19 
shekels  of  silver,  and  give  them  unto  the  father  of  the 
damsel,  because  he  hath  brought  up  an  evil  name  upon 
a  virgin  of  Israel :  and  she  shall  be  his  wife ;  he  may  not 
put  her  away  all  his  days.    But  if  this  thing  be  true,  that  20 
the  tokens  of  virginity  were  not  found  in  the  damsel :  then  2 1 
they  shall  bring  out  the  damsel  to  the  door  of  her  father's 
house,  and  the  men  of  her  city  shall  stone  her  with  stones 
that  she  die :  because  she  hath  wrought  folly  in  Israel,  to 
play  the  harlot  in  her  father's  house :   so  shalt  thou  put 
away  the  evil  from  the  midst  of  thee. 

If  a  man  be  found  lying  with  a  woman  married  to  an  22 

I'T.  the  gfarment :  i.e.  camisia  sponsae  sanguine  inquinata, 
quae  ut  testimonium  virginitatis  custodiri  consuevit. 

18.  clxastise  him:  probably  corporal  punishment  is  intended 
(cf.  XXV.  3),  as  is  understood  by  Josephus,  Antiq.  iv.  8.  23. 

19.  amerce:  i.e.  'fine,'  the  fine  being  twice  that  for  the 
seduction  of  a  virgin  (verse  29),  and  paid  to  the  father  as  defamed 
by  the  false  report.  Its  nominal  ^100  silver  shekels  at  25.  gd.) 
equivalent  is  a  little  less  than  £14. 

20.  If  the  physical  evidence  be  not  forthcoming,  the  charge  is 
regarded  as  proved,  and  the  woman  accordingly  punished. 

21.  The  place  of  the  punishment  is  that  of  the  sin  ;  the  father, 
moreover,  was  responsible  for  his  daughter. 

stone  her :  see  on  xiii.  10,  and  cf.  xxi.  21. 
folly  in  Israel:   rather  'senselessness'  :   cf.  Joshua  vii.  15 
(Achan") ;  usually,  as  here,  of  acts  of  immorality  (,Gen.  xxxiv.  7). 

22.  For  other  laws  relating  to  adultery,  see  v.   18  ;  Lev.  xviii. 


I70  DEUTERONOMY  22.  33-27.     D 

husband,  then  they  shall  both  of  them  die,  the  man  that 
lay  with  the  woman,  and  the  woman  :  so  shalt  thou  put 
away  the  evil  from  Israel. 

23  If  there  be  a  damsel  that  is  a  virgin  betrothed  unto  an 
husband,  and  a  man  find  her  in  the  city,  and  lie  with  her ; 

24  then  ye  shall  bring  them  both  out  unto  the  gate  of  that 
city,  and  ye  shall  stone  them  with  stones  that  they  die ; 
the  damsel,  because  she  cried  not,  being  in  the  city ;  and 
the  man,  because  he  hath  humbled  his  neighbour's  wife  : 
so  thou  shalt  put  away  the  evil  from  the  midst  of  thee. 

25  But  if  the  man  find  the  damsel  that  is  betrothed  in  the 
field,  and  the  man  force  her,  and  lie  with  her ;  then  the 

26  man  only  that  lay  with  her  shall  die  :  but  unto  the  damsel 
thou  shalt  do  nothing;  there  is  in  the  damsel  no  sin 
worthy  of  death :   for  as  when  a  man  riseth  against  his 

27  neighbour,  and  slayeth  him,  even  so  is  this  matter:   for 


20,  XX.  10.  The  punishment  was  assumed  to  be  that  of  verse  24, 
i.  e.  death  by  stoning  (Ezek,  xvi.  40  ;  John  viii.  5).  The  parallel 
law  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  reads,  *  If  the  wife  of  a  man  has 
been  caught  in  lying  with  another  male,  one  shall  bind  them  and 
throw  them  into  the  waters.  If  the  owner  of  the  wife  would  save 
his  wife,  or  the  king  would  save  his  servant  (he  may) '  (§  129). 

xxii.  23  f.  The  parallel  law  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  is,  '  If  a 
man  has  forced  the  wife  of  a  man  who  has  not  known  the  male,  and 
is  dwelling  in  the  house  of  her  father,  and  has  lain  in  her  bosom, 
and  one  has  caught  him,  that  man  shall  be  killed,  the  woman 
herself  shall  go  free '  (§  130). 

23.  betrothed :  see  on  xx.  7  ;  the  bride-price  having  been 
paid,  she  is  the  property  of  her  husband,  and  the  case  becomes 
one  of  adultery  (cf.  '  his  neighbour's  wife  '). 

in  tlie  city  :  where,  presumably,  the  woman  might  have  been 
rescued  had  she  appealed  for  help  (*  because  she  cried  not '). 

25.  in  tlie  field:  here  the  woman's  innocence  is  presumed,  for 
the  reason  given  in  verse  27. 

force  her  :  rather,  *  take  hold  of  her  '  (s  Sam.  xiii.  11). 

26.  as  when  a  man  riseth  :  i.  e.  the  sudden  attack  in  each  case 
found  a  defenceless  victim. 


DEUTERONOMY  22.  28—23.  i.     D         171 

he  found  her  in  the  field ;  the  betrothed  damsel  cried, 
and  there  was  none  to  save  her. 

If  a  man  find  a  damsel  that  is  a  virgin,  which  is  not  28 
betrothed,  and  lay  hold  on  her,  and  lie  with  her,  and  they 
be  found ;  then  the  man  that  lay  with  her  shall  give  unto  29 
the  damsel's  father  fifty  shekels  of  silver,  and  she  shall  be 
his  wife,  because  he  hath  humbled  her  j  he  may  not  put 
her  away  all  his  days. 

^  A  man  shall  not  take  his  father's  wife,  and  shall  not  30 
uncover  his  father's  skirt. 

He  that  is  wounded  in  the  stones,  or  hath  his  privy  23 
member  cut  off,  shall  not  enter  into  the  assembly  of  the 
Lord. 

»  [Ch.  xxiii.  I  in  Heb.] 

28,  29.  The  case  of  the  unbetrothed  woman  is  on  a  different 
footing  ;  no  marital  rights  are  involved  (cf.  Exod.  xxii.  16,  17). 
Consequently,  the  man  pays  the  bride-price  (see  on  verse  19)  as 
in  an  ordinary  marriage,  his  penalty  being  the  loss  of  the  right  of 
divorce.     The  price  of  a  slave  was  thirty  shekels  (Exod.  xxi.  32). 

30.  Cf.  Lev.  xviii.  8,  xx.  11  ;  a  similar  prohibition  of  marriage 
with  a  step-mother  occurs  in  the  Kur'an  (iv.  26),  aimed  at  the 
inheritance  of  women  in  the  same  way  as  other  property 
(Robertson   Smith,  Kinship,  p.  86). 

his  father's  skirt :  xxvii.  20  :  cf.  Ezek.  xvi.  8  ;  Ruth  iii.  9 
A  probable  parallel  to  this  law  (Cook,  op.  cit,  p.  loi)  occurs  in  the 
Code  of  Hammurabi,  §  158  :  '  If  a  man,  after  his  father,  has  been 
caught  in  the  bosom  of  his  head  wife  who  has  borne  children, 
that  man  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  father's  house.'  The  present 
law  is  the  first  instance  of  legislation  as  to  forbidden  degrees 
(cf.  Lev.  xviii  and  xx). 

xxiii.  1-8.  Classes  excluded  from  the  assembly  of  Yahweh  : 
eunuchs,  bastards,  Ammonites  and  Moabites,  but  not  the  third 
generation  of  an  Edomite  or  Egyptian. 

1.  The  verse  refers  to  two  methods  of  making  eunuchs  (crushed 
testicles,  abscission  of  penis).  Such  mutilations  were  practised  in 
certain  forms  of  Syrian  worship  ;  the  prohibition  is  probably,  like 
that  in  xiv.  i,  directed  against  association  with  heathenism. 

the  assembly  of  Yahweh :  Israel  as  a  religious  community 
(Mic.  ii.  5).  The  conception  is  developed  by  priestly  writers, 
though  in  P  '  congregation '  (edah,  Exod.   xii.  3,  &c.)  replaces 


172  DEUTERONOMY  23.  2-7.     D 

2  A  bastard  shall  not  enter  into  the  assembl)'  of  the 
Lord  ;  even  to  the  tenth  generation  shall  none  of  his 
enter  into  the  assembly  of  the  Lord. 

3  An  Ammonite  or  a  Moabite  shall  not  enter  into  the 
assembly  of  the  Lord  ;  even  to  the  tenth  generation  shall 
none  belonging  to  them  enter  into  the  assembly  of  the 

4  Lord  for  ever :  because  they  met  you  not  with  bread 
and  with  water  in  the  way,  when  ye  came  forth  out  of 
Egypt ;  and  because  they  hired  against  thee  Balaam  the 
son  of  Beor  from  Pethor  of  *  Mesopotamia,  to  curse  thee. 

5  Nevertheless  the  Lord  thy  God  would  not  hearken  unto 
Balaam ;  but  the  Lord  thy  God  turned  the  curse  into  a 
blessing  unto  thee,  because  the  Lord  thy  God  loved  thee. 

6  Thou  shalt  not  seek  their  peace  nor  their  prosperity  all 
thy  days  for  ever. 

7  Thou   shalt  not  abhor  an   Edomite;    for  he  is  thy 

*  Heb.  Aram-naharaim. 

*  assembly '  {kdhdl).     A  place  in  this  community  is  extended  even 
to  the  eunuch  in  Isa.  Ivi.  4  f, 

2.  a  "bastard :  possibly  *  child  of  incest '  (cf.  xxii.  30),  unclean 
by  origin. 

to  the  tenth  generation  :  i.  e.  never  (verse  3  end). 

3.  Ammonite,  Moabite:  excluded  by  the  previous  verse, 
according  to  Gen.  xix.  30  f. 

4  f.  Their  exclusion  is  grounded  on  history,  possibly  by  a  later 
addition. 

they  met  you  not,  &c.  :  contrast  ii.  29,  where  the  Moabites 
are  said  to  have  sold  food  and  water  to  Israel. 

they  hired  against  thee,  &c.  (Heb,  '  he  *  =  king  of  Moab)  ; 
this  relates  to  the  Moabites  only,  Num.  xxii.  5. 

5.  turned  the  curse  into  a  hlessing:  Num.  xxiii.  11,  25, 
xxiv.  10. 

6.  A  characteristic  limitation  of  Deuteronomic  humanitarianism. 
For  the  expressions  see  Jer.  xxix.  7  ;  Ezra  ix.  12.  This  paragraph 
is  quoted  and  acted  upon  in  Neh.  xiii.  1-3.  It  reflects  the  historical 
hostility  between  the  two  peoples  and  Israel  (e.  g.  Amos  i.  13 ; 
Zeph.  ii.  8  ;  Isa.  xvi.  6). 

7.  an  Edomite :  '  thy  brother,'  as  descended  from  Esau :  cf. 
ii.  4-8. 


DEUTERONOMY  23.  8-13.     D  173 

brother :    thou  shalt  not  abhor  an  Egyptian ;    because 
thou  wast  a  stranger  in  his  land.     The  children  of  the  8 
third  generation  that  are  born  unto  them  shall  enter  into 
the  assembly  of  the  Lord. 

When  thou  goest  forth  in  camp  against  thine  enemies,  9 
then  thou  shalt  keep  thee  from  every  evil  thing.    If  there  10 
be  among  you  any  man,  that  is  not  clean  by  reason  of 
that  which  chanceth  him  by  night,  then  shall  he  go  abroad 
out  of  the  camp,  he  shall  not  come  within  the  camp  :  but  1 1 
it  shall  be,  when  evening  cometh  on,   he  shall  bathe 
himself  in  water :   and  when  the  sun  is  down,  he  shall 
come  within  the  camp.     Thou  shalt  have  a  place  also  12 
without  the  camp,  whither  thou  shalt  go  forth  abroad  : 
and  thou  shalt  have  a  »  paddle  among  thy  weapons ;  and  13 
*  Or,  shovel 


an  Egryptiau :  the  motive  for  friendliness  towards  him  is 
elsewhere  (v.  15,  xv.  15,  xvi.  12,  xxiv.  18,  22)  used  to  arouse 
sympathy  with  the  slave  and  dependant. 

8.  The  verse  refers  to  the  descendants  of  those  Edomites  or 
Egyptians  who  have  settled  in  Palestine  and  affiliated  themselves 
to  Israel. 

xxiii.  9-14.  The  holiness  of  the  camp  {nocturnal  pollutions, 
excrement).  This  law  belongs  to  the  rules  of  warfare  in  chap,  xx 
and  xxi.  10-14.  A  wider  statement  of  that  which  defiles  the  camp 
is  given  by  P  (Num.  v.  1-4).  A  military  expedition  is  sacred  to 
the  war-god,  on  whose  presence  it  depends  for  success  (see  on 
XX.  2), 

10.  See  Lev.  XV.  16;  all  that  relates  to  sexual  life  is  a  peril, 
and  the  taboo  it  imposes  is  rigorously  respected  by  primitive 
peoples.  For  the  sexual  taboo  in  general  during  war,  see  i  Sam. 
xxi.  4-6  ;  2  Sam.  xi.  11.  Schwally  {op.  cit.,  p.  60  f.)  gives  some  of  the 
parallels  from  other  peoples  :  cf.  also  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough, 
i.  327  f.  and  the  note,  p.  328.     See  on  xx.  5  f. 

11.  when  evening  cometh  on:  and  a  new  day  begins  (at 
sunset)  in  which  the  polluted  man  may,  after  ablution,  return  to 
the  camp. 

13.  a  paddle :  or  *  digging-stick '  ;  the  word  occurs  elsewhere 
as  'peg'  (^tent-peg,  Judges  v.  a6)  or  'loom-stick'  (Judges  xvi.  14). 


174  DEUTERONOMY  23.  14-17.     D 

it  shall  be,  when  thou  sittest  down  abroad,  thou  shalt  dig 
therewith,   and  shalt  turn  back  and  cover  that  which 

14  cometh  from  thee  :  for  the  Lord  thy  God  walketh  in  the 
midst  of  thy  camp,  to  deliver  thee,  and  to  give  up  thine 
enemies  before  thee ;  therefore  shall  thy  camp  be  holy  : 
that  he  see  no  *»-  unclean  thing  in  thee,  and  turn  away 
from  thee. 

15  Thou  shalt  not  deliver  unto  his  master  a  servant  which 

16  is  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thee  :  he  shall  dwell  with 
thee,  in  the  midst  of  thee,  in  the  place  which  he  shall 
choose  within  one  of  thy  gates,  where  it  liketh  him  best : 
thou  shalt  not  oppress  him. 

I'j      There  shall  be  no  ^harlot  of  the  daughters  of  Israel, 

*  Heb.  nakedness  of  any  thing. 

^  Heb.  kedeshah.     See  Gen.  xxxviii.  ar. 

The  excrement  is  not  covered  for  any  sanitary  reason  or  motive 
of  propriety ;  for  primitive  peoples  it  is  a  means  by  which  magic 
can  be  worked,  and  therefore  to  be  prevented  from  falling  into  an 
enemy's  hands.  For  this  peril,  and  that  of  demonic  influence  at 
the  time  of  excretion,  see  Schwally  {pp.  cit,  p.  67). 

14.  The  original  grounds  of  the  custom  are  replaced  by  one 
more  suitable  to  a  worshipper  of  Yahweh  ;  Yahweh  Himself  (cf. 
Gen.  iii.  8)  is  in  the  camp  (xx.  i),  which  must  be  kept  *holy.' 

xxiii.  15,  16.  Asylum  in  Israel  for  escaped  slaves.  This  stands 
in  marked  contrast  with  the  severe  enactments  of  the  Code  of 
Hammurabi  concerning  runaway  slaves  (§§  15-20),  from  Babylo- 
nian territory ;  the  law  of  Deuteronomy  apparently  relates  to 
foreign  slaves  only. 

16.  within  one  of  tliy  gfates :  i.  e.  a  city  of  Israel,  implying 
that  he  is  a  foreign  slave.  Contrast  the  extradition  rights  allowed 
by  Gath,  i  Kings  ii.  39,  40. 

thou  shalt  not  oppress  him:  so,  of  the  ger  or  protected 
stranger  (Exod.  xxii.  21),  whose  presence  in  Israel  would  some- 
times be  explainable  in  this  way  (escape  from  slavery). 

xxiii.  17,  18.  Religious  prostitution  forbidden.  For  a  classical 
example  of  the  custom  referred  to  see  Herodotus  I.  199  (at  the 
temple  of  Aphrodite  among  the  Babylonians).  Cf.  i  Kings  xiv. 
24  and  R.  V.  marg. 

17.  harlot  .  .  .  Sodomite :  the  Hebrew  is  simply  a  '  sacred  ' 


DEUTERONOMY  23.  18-20.     D  175 

neither  shall  there  be  a  *  sodomite  of  the  sons  of  Israel. 
Thou  shalt  not  bring  the  hire  of  a  whore,  or  the  wages  of  iS 
a  dog,  into  the  house  of  the  Lord  thy  God  for  any  vow : 
for  even  both  these  are  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God. 

Thou  shalt  not  lend  upon  usury  to  thy  brother ;  usury  10 
of  money,  usury  of  victuals,  usury  of  any  thing  that  is 
lent  upon  usury  :  unto  a  foreigner  thou  mayest  lend  upon  20 
usury;  but  unto  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not  lend  upon 
usury  :  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all  that 
thou  puttest  thine  hand  unto,  in  the  land  whither  thou 
goest  in  to  possess  it 

*  Heb.  kadesh. 

person  (male  and  female),  with  reference  to  immorality  practised 
in  the  service  of  a  deity. 

18.  dog-:  the  term  used  in  a  Cyprian  inscription  (temple  of 
Ashtoreth)  apparently  to  denote  male  prostitutes  of  the  above 
class  (cf.  Rev.  xxii.  15).     Cf.  Rel.  Sent.,  p.  292. 

for  any  vow :  i.  e.  fulfilling  a  pledge  given  to  the  deity.  In 
the  narrative  of  Herodotus,  the  silver  coin  earned  is  *  sacred  '  to 
Aphrodite,  the  woman  '  having  acquitted  herself  of  her  duty  to  the 
goddess.' 

abomination :  vii.  25,  xii.  31,  &c.  The  reference  is  probably 
to  the  earnings,  to  say  nothing  of  the  earners. 

xxiii.  ig,  20.  Interest  on  loans  allowed  from  foreigners  only. 
Parallels  in  Exod.  xxii.  25  (JE),  Lev.  xxv.  36,  37  (H)  :  cf.  Ps. 
XV.  5. 

19.  lend  npon  nsnry:  Heb.  'exact  interest,'  moderate  or 
excessive.  The  English  '  usury '  is  misleading  to  the  modern 
reader,  who  forgets  that  this  term  originally  meant,  and  means 
here,  simply  *  interest.' 

20.  The  Bedouins  of  to-day  take  no  interest  on  loans  (Doughty, 
Arabia  Deserta,  i.  318;  cited  by  Cook,  Laws  of  Moses,  p.  233). 
This  is  in  accordance  with  those  simpler  conditions  of  life  in 
which  the  loan  is  meant  to  relieve  poverty,  &c.,  not  to  be  a 
business  investment ;  for  the  more  complex  social  conditions  of 
Babylonia,  with  its  development  of  trade  and  commerce,  see  the 
Code  of  Hammurabi,  §§  49,  50.  too,  according  to  which  interest 
is  ordinarily  given  In  a  year  of  disaster,  however,  the  interest  on 
a  debt  is  cancelled  (§  48). 


176  DEUTERONOMY  23.  21— 24.  i. 

2 1  When  thou  shalt  vow  a  vow  unto  the  Lord  thy  God, 
thou  shalt  not  be  slack  to  pay  it :  for  the  Lord  thy  God 
will  surely  require  it  of  thee  ;  and  it  would  be  sin  in  thee. 

22  But  if  thou  shalt  forbear  to  vow,  it  shall  be  no  sin  in  thee. 

23  That  which  is  gone  out  of  thy  lips  thou  shalt  observe  and 
do;  according  as  thou  hast  vowed  unto  the  Lord  thy 
God,  a  freewill  offering,  which  thou  hast  promised  with 
thy  mouth. 

24  When  thou  comest  into  thy  neighbour's  vineyard,  then 
thou  mayest  eat  grapes  thy  fill  at  thine  own  pleasure; 
but  thou  shalt  not  put  any  in  thy  vessel. 

25  When  thou  comest  into  thy  neighbour's  standing  corn, 
then  thou  mayest  pluck  the  ears  with  thine  hand ;  but 
thou  shalt  not  move  a  sickle  unto  thy  neighbour's 
standing  corn. 

24      When  a  man  taketh  a  \7ife,  and  marrieth  her,  then  it 


xxiii.  21-3.  Vows.  The  subject  is  developed  by  P  in  Num.  xxx 
(cf.  verse  2)  and  in  later  Jewish  casuistry.  Well-known  vows  of 
the  O.  T.  are  those  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xxviii.  so),  Jephtbah  (Judges 
xi.  30),  Hannah  (i  Sam.  i.  ri). 

21.  not  be  slack:  '  delay  not '  :  cf.  Eccles.  v.  4,  5. 

23.  a  freewill  offeringr :  '  freely '  (as  in  Hos.  xiv.  4).  These 
vows  are  to  be  paid  at  Jerusalem  (xii.  6,  Sec). 

xxiii.  24,  25.  Hunger,  not  greed,  may  be  satisfied  in  a  neigh- 
bour's vineyard  or  cornfield. 

24.  vessel :  the  bag  or  wallet  of  the  traveller  (Gen.  xliii.  11  ; 
I  Sam.  ix.  7)  or  shepherd  (i  Sam.  xvii.  40). 

25.  Cf.  Matt.  xii.  i  f.  ;  Mark  ii.  23  f. ;  Luke  vi.  i  f. 

xxiv.  1-4.  Divorce.  A  divorced  woman,  whose  second  husband 
has  also  divorced  her,  oris  dead,  may  not  be  remarried  to  the  first. 

This,  and  the  other  references  to  divorce  (xxii,  19,  29  ;  Lev. 
xxi.  7,  14,  xxii.  13 ;  Num.  xxx.  9),  in  Hebrew  law,  take  the 
custom  for  granted,  and  do  not  directly  establish  it,  but  deal 
with  its  relation  to  various  contingencies.  The  laws  of  divorce  in 
the  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§§  137-43)  are  chiefly  concerned  with  its 
financial  aspect,  and  guard  the  woman's  right  to  the  return  of  her 
dowry  or  other  compensation,  when  s!ie  has  not  been  to  blame. 
In  the  O.  T.   no  right  of  divorce  is  supposed  to  belong  to  the 


DEUTERONOMY  24.  2-5.     D  177 

shall  be,  if  she  find  no  favour  in  his  eyes,  because  he 
hath  found  some  unseemly  thing  in  her,  that  he  shall 
write  her  a  bill  of  divorcement,  and  give  it  in  her  hand, 
and   send    her   out   of  his   house.     And   when    she   is  2 
departed  out  of  his  house,  she  may  go  and  be  another 
man's  wife.     And  if  the  latter  husband  hate  her,  and  3 
write  her  a  bill  of  divorcement,  and  give  it  in  her  hand, 
and  send  her  out  of  his  house  ;   or  if  the  latter  husband 
die,  which  took  her  to  be  his  wife ;   her  former  husband,  4 
which  sent  her  away,  may  not  take  her  again  to  be  his 
wife,  after  that  she  is  defiled ;   for  that  is  abomination 
before  the  Lord  :   and  thou  shalt  not  cause  the  land  to 
sin,   which    the   Lord    thy   God    giveth    thee    for    an 
inheritance. 

When  a  man  taketh  a  new  wife,  he  shall  not  go  out  in  5 

woman.  Divorces  were  evidently  very  frequent  in  Babylonia 
and  Israel  (Mai.  ii.  13-16).  For  a  review  of  Semitic  marriage- 
lav/,  see  Cook,  The  Laws  of  Moses,  chaps,  iv,  v ;  cf  2  Sam.  iii. 
14  f.  ;  Hos.  ii,  &c. 

1.  The  apodosis  is  verse  4  {then  her  former  husband,  &c.),  the 
previous  three  verses  are  governed  by  '  if  or  '  when,'  and  should 
be  so  translated  (read  '  and  it  shall  be  '  (verse  i),  ...  *  and  she  may 
go  '  (verse  2),  with  necessary  re-punctuation). 

some  unseexnly  thing- :  Hebrew  as  in  xxiii.  14  (R.V.  marg.)  ; 
interpreted  by  the  school  of  Shammai  of  unchastity,  and  by  the 
school  of  Hillel  of  any  ground  of  dislike.  *  It  is  most  natural  to 
understand  it  o{  immodest  or  indecent  behaviour^  (Driver,  p.  271). 
Cf.  Matt.  v.  31,  32,  xix.  7  ;  Mark  x.  4. 

a  "bill  of  divorcement  (*  a  writing  of  separation  ')  :  Isa.  1.  i  ; 
Jer.  iii.  8  (the  latter  expressly  referring  to  this  law).  The  divorce 
is  formally  and  unmistakably  made.  Compare  the  Code  of  Ham- 
murabi (§  141)  ;  the  divorce  is  not  valid  without  the  legal  form. 
Here  three  formalities  are  required — (a)  the  deed,  (6)  its  service, 
(c)  dismissal  of  wife. 

4.  defiled :  i.  e.  through  cohabitation  with  another  man  (cf 
Matt.  V.  32),  which,  in  the  light  of  a  remarriage,  might  be  regarded 
as  adultery  (Lev.  xviii.  20  ;  Num.  v.  13,  14,  20). 

cause  the  land  to  sin  :  i.  e.  by  a  '  defilement '  which  exposes 
land  and  people  to  the  wrath  of  Yahwch  (Isa.  xxiv.  5),  and  makes 
it  an  •  abomination  '  (vii.  25,  &,c.)  to  Him. 

N 


1 78  DEUTERONOMY  24.  6-8.     D 

the  host,  neither  shall  he  be  charged  with  any  business : 
he  shall  be  free  at  home  one  year,  and  shall  cheer  his 

0  wife  which  he  hath  taken.  No  man  shall  take  the  mill 
or  the  upper  millstone  to  pledge  :  for  he  taketh  a  man's 
life  to  pledge. 

y  If  a  man  be  found  stealing  any  of  his  brethren  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  he  deal  with  him  ^  as  a  slave,  or 
sell  him  ;  then  that  thief  shall  die :  so  shalt  thou  put 
away  the  evil  from  the  midst  of  thee. 

8  Take  heed  in  the  plague  of  leprosy,  that  thou  observe 
diligently,  and  do  according  to  all  that  the  priests  the 
Levites  shall  teach  you :  as  I  commanded  them,  so  ye 
*  Or,  as  a  chattel 

5.  Exemption  from  military  or  other  duties  for  one  year  after 
marriage  (cf.  xx.  7). 

cheer :  Heb.  '  make  to  rejoice,'  but  we  should  perhaps  read 
with  Vulgate  (repointing  the  Hebrew),  '  rejoice  ^take  pleasure) 
with'  (so  Bertholet).  As  stated  by  Deuteronomy,  the  law  is 
humanitarian  ;  but  it  may  rest  on  older  ideas  connected  with  the 
period  of  gestation  (Schwally,  op.  cit.,  79  f.). 

6.  The  mill  not  to  be  taken  as  deposit  for  a  loan  (cf.  verses  10- 
13,  17  **),  since  it  is  essential  to  the  life  of  its  owner. 

mill:  consisting  of  two  circular  stones,  the  upper  being 
rotated  by  hand  upon  the  lower,  to  grind  the  corn  for  each  day's 
needs — to  take  away  the  upper  stone  was  to  deprive  the  house  of 
the  use  of  the  mill  itself,  and  therefore  of  its  daily  supply  of 
bread  (Exod.  xi.  5  ;  Isa.  xlvii,  2  ;  Jer.  xxv.  lo  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  41 ; 
Rev.  xviii.  22).     See  on  verse  10  f.  for  pledg'e. 

7.  Man-stealing  :  repeated  from  Exod.  xxi.  16,  except  that  the 
law  is  here  confined  to  Israelite  victims  of  tyrannical  dealing  (on 
xxi.  14).  Cf.  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§  14),  '  If  a  man  has  stolen 
the  son  of  a  freeman,  he  shall  be  put  to  death.' 

xxiv.  8,  9.  The  Levitical  laws  in  regard  to  leprosy  are  to  be 
rigorously  followed.  These  laws  are  given  in  Lev.  xiii.  14  f.,  but 
their  substance  may  well  be  pre-Deuteronomic. 

8.  the  plague  of  leprosy :  the  '  stroke '  of  this  unclean  disease 
(on  which  see  D.B.^  iii.  95  f.)  was  regarded  as  a  divine  judgement 
(2  Kings  V.  27,  XV.  5)  of  a  specially  severe  character,  because  the 
visible  personality  seemed  partially  destroyed  (Num.  xii.  12  :  cf. 
Job  iu  5).     Hence,  doubtless,  its  special  treatment. 

as  Z  commanded  them :  i.  e.  Yahwch,  like  '  mc  '  in  vii.  4. 


DEUTERONOMY  24.  9-15.     D  179 

shall  observe  to  do.     Remember  what  the  Lord  thy  God  9 
did  unto  Miriam^  by  the  way  as  ye  came  forth  out  of 
Egypt. 

When  thou  dost  lend  thy  neighbour  any  manner  of  10 
loan,  thou  shalt  not  go  into  his  house  to  fetch  his  pledge. 
Thou  shalt  stand  without,  and  the  man  to  whom  thou  n 
dost  lend  shall  bring  forth  the  pledge  without  unto  thee. 
And  if  he  be  a  poor  man,  thou  shalt  not  sleep  with  his  12 
pledge  :  thou  shalt  surely  restore  to  him  the  pledge  when  13 
the  sun  goeth  down,  that  he  may  sleep  in  his  garment, 
and  bless  thee :   and  it  shall  be  righteousness  unto  thee 
before  the  Lord  thy  God. 

Thou  shalt  not  oppress  an  hired  servant  that  is  poor  14 
and  needy,  whether  he  be  of  thy  brethren^  or  of  thy 
strangers  that  are  in  thy  land  within  thy  gates  :  in  his  day  15 

9.  Miriam  :  smitten  with  leprosy  for  contempt  of  Moses  (Num. 
xii.  10),  and  kept  without  the  camp,  at  Yahweh's  bidding,  for 
seven  days. 

xxiv.  10-13.  Selection  and  Retention  of  Pledges  for  Loans.  The 
article  deposited  with  a  creditor  as  security  for  his  loan  is  to  be 
selected  by  the  borrower  ;  and  if  it  be  essential  to  his  life,  it  shall 
be  speedily  returned. 

10.  Interest,  not  a  pledge,  was  forbidden  in  xxiii.  19,  20. 

12.  The  rule  becomes  practically  equivalent  to  that  of  verse  6  ; 
the  essentials  of  life  must  not  be  withheld  from  those  needing 
them.  Similarly  of  the  ox  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§  241  :  cf^ 
Job  xxiv.  3). 

13.  Exod.  xxii.  26,  27  (JE).  The  gfarment  (simldk)  is  '  the 
largest  and  heaviest  article  of  Oriental  dress,  being  the  dress  of 
travel,  of  the  shepherd,  worn  for  protection  against  cold  and  rain, 
and  used  as  a  covering  during  s\eep\D.B.,  i.  625,  where  illustrations 
are  given).  For  the  pledging  of  clothes,  of.  Amos  ii.  8  ;  Prov.  xx. 
16  ;  Job  xxii.  6). 

xxiv.  14,  15.  Treatment  of  Hired  Servants  :  they  are  not  to  be 
wronged  by  the  retention  of  their  wages  (Lev.  xix.  13). 

15.  in  his  day:  i.e.  the  day  of  labour  (Job  xiv.  6),  through 
which  are  earned  the  wages,  e.  g.  the  *  penny '  of  Matt.  xx.  2  f. 
The  Code  of  Hammurabi  gives  a  scale  of  v;ages  per  day  for 
different  grades  of  labour  (§§  273,  274"). 

N    2 


i8o  DEUTERONOMY  24.  16-19.     D 

thou  shalt  give  him  his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun  go  down 
upon  it ;  for  he  is  poor,  and  setteth  his  heart  upon  it : 
lest  he  cry  against  thee  unto  the  Lord,  and  it  be  sin 
unto  thee. 

16  The  fathers  shall  not  be  put  to  death  for  the  children, 
neither  shall  the  children  be  put  to  death  for  the  fathers : 
every  man  shall  be  put  to  death  for  his  own  sin. 

17  Thou  shalt  not  wrest  the  judgement  of  the  stranger, 
nor  of  the  fatherless ;    nor  take  the  widow's  raiment  to 

18  pledge :  but  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a 
bondman  in  Egypt,  and  the  Lord  thy  God  redeemed 
thee  thence :  therefore  I  command  thee  to  do  this  thing. 

19  When  thou  reapesc  thine  harvest  in  thy  field,  and  hast 
forgot  a  sheaf  in  the  field,  thou  shalt  not  go  again  to  fetch 
it :  it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the  fatherless,  and  for 

lest  he  cry,  &c.  :  contrast  verse  13,  and  cf.  xv.  9. 

xxiv.  16.  Individual  Responsibility.  A  fundamental  characteristic 
of  ancient  ideas  of  personality  is  the  absence  of  legal  individuality  ; 
ancient  thought  and  law  make  the  family  the  unit  (Joshua  vii.  24  ; 
2  Kings  ix.  26)  rather  than  the  individual.  For  the  social  solidarity 
of  the  family,  see  v.  9  (cf.  Jer,  xxxi.  29  ;  Ezek.  xviii.  2)  ;  here 
blood-revenge  is  specially  in  view  (cf.  2  Kings  xiv.  6).  The 
principle  of  individuality  is  emphasized  by  Ezekiel  (chap,  xviii); 
its  full  recognition  falls  largely  within  the  sphere  of  Christian 
influences. 

xxiv.  17,  18.  Stranger,  Orphan,  and  Widow.  These  three 
dependent  classes  are  grouped  together,  as  in  Exod.  xxii.  21,  22 
and  elsewhere  ;  care  for  them  is  characteristic  of  this  book. 

17.  wrest  the  judg-ement :  cf.  x.  18  and  xvi.  19  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  6. 
the  widow's  raiment :  cf.  verses  12,  13.     The  widow's  claims 

are  legally  recognized  in  various  laws  of  the  Code  of  Hammurabi 
(§§  171,  172,  177)  ;  it  is  there  also  enacted  that  'The  buyer  that 
has  bought  a  utensil  of  a  widow's  sons  shall  lose  his  money  and 
shall  return  the  property  to  its  owners.' 

18.  Cf.  XV.  15. 

xxiv.  19-22.  Gleanings  to  be  left  for  the  needy,  in  field,  olive- 
garden,  and  vineyard. 

19.  See  Lev.  xix.  9,  xxiii.  22  (H)  ;  and  for  the  general  practice 
as  to  gleaners'  privileges,  Rulh  ii.     It  is  a  widespread  custom  to 


DEUTERONOMY  24.  20— 25.  3.     D         181 

the  widow  :  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all 
the  work  of  thine  hands. 

When  thou  beatest  thine  olive  tree,  thou  shalt  not  go  20 
over  the  boughs  again :   it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for 
the  fatherless,  and  for  the  widow.     When  thou  gatherest  21 
the  grapes  of  thy  vineyard,  thou  shalt  not  glean  it  after 
thee  :   it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the  fatherless,  and 
for  the  widow.    And  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  22 
a  bondman  in  the  land  of  Egypt :   therefore  I  command 
thee  to  do  this  thing. 

If  there  be  a  controversy  between  men,  and  they  come  25 
unto  judgement,  and  the  judges  judge  them ;  then  they 
shall  justify  the  righteous,  and  condemn  the  wicked; 
and  it  shall  be,  if  the  wicked  man  be  worthy  to  be  2 
beaten,  that  the  judge  shall  cause  him  to  lie  down,  and 
to  be  beaten  before  his  face,  according  to  his  wickedness, 
by  number.     Forty  stripes  he  may  give  him,  he  shall  3 

treat  the  last  sheaf  of  corn  in  a  special  way,  on  the  ground  that  it 
contains  the  corn-spirit  fFrazer,  The  Golden  Bough,  ii.  p.  171  f.)  ; 
the  last  sheaf  may  have  been  left  originally  for  strangers  (ib.  232^) 
as  a  convenient  method  of  disposing  of  its  perilous  contents. 
Here,  however,  a  humanitarian  motive  has  replaced  a  primitive 
superstition. 

20.  beatest :  olives  were  and  are  beaten  down  from  the  trees 
in  order  to  gather  them  (Isa.  xvii.  6,  xxiv.  13). 

21.  See  Lev.  xix.  10. 

XXV.  1-3.  Corporal  punishment  to  be  moderate  (cf.  Exod.  xxi. 
20,  of  slaves  only). 

1.  The  apodosis  probably  begins  with  '■  the  judge  shall  cause 
him  to  lie  down';  read  therefore  'and  they  shall  justify'  (pro- 
nounce innocent),  .  .  .  '  then  it  shall  be '  (verse  2). 

2.  to  lie  down :  probably  for  the  bastinado  (cf.  Rob.  Smith, 
O.T.J.C.'^,  p.  368).  Note  here  the  three  precautions  against 
excessive  flogging ;  {a)  before  bis  face :  i.  e.  in  the  presence  of 
th3  judge  himself;  (b)  bynnmber  ;  (c)  maximum  of  forty  stripes, 
the  exact  number  being  proportionate,  i.  e.  accordiner  to  hit' 
wickedne;^s. 

3.  forty  stripes :  in  later  practice  this  became  *  forty  stripes 


i82  DEUTERONOMY  25.  4-6.     D 

not  exceed :  lest,  if  he  should  exceed,  and  beat  him 
above  these  with  many  stripes,  then  thy  brother  should 
seem  vile  unto  thee. 

4  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out 
tJie  cor?i. 

5  If  brethren  dwell  together,  and  one  of  them  die,  and 
have  no  son,  the  wife  of  the  dead  shall  not  marry  with- 
out unto  a  stranger :  her  husband's  brother  shall  go  in 
unto  her,  and  take  her  to  him  to  wife,  and  perform  the 

6  duty  of  an  husband's  brother  unto  her.     And  it  shall  be, 

save  one '  (2  Cor.  xi.  24),  lest  the  legal  number  should  be  ex- 
ceeded by  a  miscount.  The  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§  202)  imposes 
'  sixty  strokes  of  a  cow-hide  whip.' 

should  seem  vile  :  Hebrew  '  should  be  dishonoured.' 
unto  thee :  Heb.  '■  before  thine  eyes,'  i.  e.  openly. 

XXV.  4.  The  ox  to  he  unmuzzled  in  threshing  (a  misplaced  law). 
In  spite  of  i  Cor.  ix.  9,  10  (of.  i  Tim.  v.  18),  the  meaning  is 
literal ;  God  does  '  take  care  for  oxen  '  (cf.  xxii.  6,  7).  The  custom 
still  continues. 

XXV.  5-10.  Levirate  Marriage.  The  widow  of  a  childless 
brother  is  to  be  married  by  the  survivor,  to  raise  an  heir  to  his 
name  (verses  5,  6).  Failure  to  perform  this  duty  after  public 
challenge  shall  be  punished  with  public  dishonour  (verses  7-10). 
This  custom  (the  English  name  of  which  comes  from  the  Latin, 
*  levir,'  husband's  brother)  occurs  in  various  forms  among  many 
peoples  (references  in  Westermarck,  Human  Marriage^  p.  510, 
note).  It  existed  in  Israel  prior  to  this  law  ;  see  the  narrative  of 
J  in  Gen.  xxxviii.  The  parallel  in  Ruth  iv.  i  f.  is  that  of  a  quasi- 
Levirate  marriage,  neither  Boaz  nor  Ruth  coming  under  the 
exact  application  of  this  law,  but  the  aim  and  legal  procedure 
being  similar.  The  law  probably  modifies  an  earlier  and  wider 
custom  of  the  inheritance  of  a  dead  brother's  wife,  by  the 
provisions  (a)  that  the  brothers  in  question  are  those  having 
a  common  establishment,  (6)  that  the  second  marriage  is  to  take 
place  only  when  there  was  no  son  born  of  the  first,  (c)  that  the 
firstborn  of  the  marriage  shall  take  the  name  and  place  of  the 
dead  brother. 

5.  husband's  brother:  a  technical  term  {yabam:  cf.  *  levir,' 
above)  from  which  the  verb  '  perform  the  duty  of  a  husband's 
brother'  (one  word  in  Heb.)  is  derived. 

6,  For  the  Israelite,  as  for  other  ancient  peoples,  the  survival  of  the 


DEUTERONOMY  25.  7-".     D  183 

that  the  firstborn  which  she  beareth  shall  succeed  in  the 
name  of  his  brother  which  is  dead,  that  his  name  be  not 
blotted  out  of  Israel.     And  if  the  man  like  not  to  take  7 
his  brother's  wife,  then  his  brother's  wife  shall  go  up  to 
the    gate    unto    the   elders,   and    say,    My   husband's 
brother  refuseth  to  raise  up  unto  his  brother  a  name  in 
Israel,  he  will  not  perform  the  duty  of  an  husband's 
brother  unto  me.     Then  the  elders  of  his  city  shall  call  8 
him,  and  speak  unto  him  :   and  if  he  stand,  and  say, 
I  like  not  to  take  her ;   then   shall  his   brother's  wife  9 
come  unto  him  in  the  presence  of  the  elders,  and  loose 
his  shoe  from  off  his  foot,  and  spit  in  his  face ;  and  she 
shall  answer  and  say.  So  shall  it  be  done  unto  the  man 
that  doth  not  build  up  his  brother's  house.     And  his  10 
name  shall  be  called  in  Israel,  The  house  of  him  that 
hath  his  shoe  loosed. 
When  men  strive  together  one  with  another,  and  the  1 1 

'  name  '  is  of  supreme  importance,  and  its  blotting  out  the  greatest 
of  calamities  (ix.  14  :  cf.  verse  19,  *  remembrance  *.) 

*?.  to  tlie  grate  unto  the  elders:  xxi.  19,  xxii.  15.  Such  a 
marriage,  as  a  duty,  is  to  be  enforced  by  public  opinion,  though 
not  by  any  legal  penalty.     Cf.  Ruth  iv.  1-12. 

9.  loose  Ms  shoe :  Ruth  iv.  7,  where  the  removal  of  the 
sandal  is  explained  as  a  symbolic  representation  of  transfer 
(cession  of  right).  The  dishonour  lies  not  in  the  act  itself,  but 
the  circumstances  of  its  performance  by  the  woman.  Driver 
refers  to  Rob.  Smith,  Kinship^  p.  269.  'A  Bedouin  form  of 
divorce  is  "  she  was  my  slipper,  and  I  have  cast  her  off."  ' 

spit  in  his  face  :  Num.  xii.  14  ;  Job  xxx.  10 ;  Isa.  1.  6. 
bnild  up:  Ruth  iv.  11  ;  Gen.  xvi.  2,  xxx.  3  (R.  V.  marg.). 

10.  The  dishonour  shall  attach  to  his  family,  who  shall  be 
known  as  '  the  house  of  bare-foot.' 

XXV.  II.  A  t3rpical  case  of  feminine  immodesty.  So,  at  least, 
we  must  interpret  the  law  as  here  reproduced  ;  but  the  severity 
of  the  punishment  suggests  that  the  woman's  act  was  originally' 
regarded  as  a  breach  of  the  taboo  which  everywhere  attaches  to 
the  mystery  of  generation.  The  Code  of  Hammurabi  (§§  202-5) 
deals  with  <  striking  the  strength'  of  a  man  (so  Johns),  where  the 


r84  DEUTERONOMY  25.  12-17.     » 

wife  of  the  one  draweth  near  for  to  deliver  her  husband 
out  of  the  hand  of  him  that  smiteth  him,  and  putteth 

12  forth  her  hand,  and  taketh  him  by  the  secrets  :  then 
thou  shalt  cut  off  her  hand,  thine  eye  shall  have  no 
pity. 

13  Thou  shalt  not  have  in  thy  bag  divers  weights,  a  great 

14  and   a   small.     Thou   shalt   not   have   in   thine    house 

15  divers  measures,  a  great  and  a  small.  A  perfect  and 
just  weight  shalt  thou  have ;  a  perfect  and  just  measure 
shalt  thou  have  :  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 

16  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee.  For  all  that 
do  such  things,  even  all  that  do  unrighteously,  are  an 
abomination  unto  the  Lord  thy  God. 

1 7  Remember  what  Amalek  did  unto  thee  by  the  way  as 

genitalia  might  be  meant ;  e.  g. '  If  a  gentleman's  servant  has  struck 
the  strength  of  a  free-man,  one  shall  cut  off  his  ear.'  But,  in  his 
later  translation  {D.B.,  v.  606)  Johns  renders  'strength'  as  *  cheek.' 

strive  together  :  wrestle  or  struggle  (Exod.  xxi.  22). 

cut  ofF  her  hand:  as  the  member  contaminated  by  the  breach 
of  taboo,  or  as  inherently  evil.  No  other  mutilation  as  penalty  is 
ordered  in  the  law  of  Israel,  apart  from  the  ius  talionis  of  xix.  21 
(Dillmann) ;  both  go  back  to  primitive  ideas  and  practices. 

XXV.  13-T6.  Fair  dealings  (weights  and  measures).  Cf  Lev.  xix. 
35>  36  (H) ;  Ezek.  xlv.  10  f. 

13.  divers  weig-hts:  Heb.  'a  stone  and  a  stone,'  the  larger  to 
weigh  purchases,  the  smaller,  sales.  Cf  Amos  viii.  5  ;  Micah  vi. 
II  'with  wicked  balances  and  with  a  bag  of  deceitful  weights' 
(contrast  Prov,  xvi.  ii).  Most  of  the  ancient  weights  still  existing 
are  of  stone  {E.B.  5299)  :  cf.  2  Sam.  xiv.  26  where  '  weight ' 
renders  Heb.  'stone.' 

14.  divers  measures:  Heb.  'an  ephah  and  an  ephah,'  the 
ephah  being  approximately  a  bushel  ;  these  larger  measures  are 
naturally  kept  in  the  '  house '  as  contrasted  with  the  '  bag '  of 
weights  carried  about. 

15.  perfect  in  the  physical  sense  of  *  whole,'  i.  e.  'full  weight.' 

16.  Cf.  xviii.  12,  xxii.  5. 

unrighteonsjly  :  Heb.  '  unrighteousness  '  (Lev.  xix.  15,  35). 
XXV.  17-19.  Hostility  to  the  Amalekites  enjoined. 
V7.  Amalek  was  encountered  by  Israel  at  Rephidim,  near  Sinai 
(Exod.  xvii,  8-16),  and  was  regarded  with  a  peculiar  bitterness  thep 


DEUTERONOMY  25.  i8— 26.  2.     D         185 

ye  came  forth  out  of  Egypt;  how  he  met  thee  by  the  18 
way,  and  smote  the  hindmost  of  thee,  all  that  were  feeble 
behind  thee,  when  thou  wast  faint  and  weary;  and  he 
feared  not  God.  Therefore  it  shall  be,  when  the  Lord  19 
thy  God  hath  given  thee  rest  from  all  thine  enemies 
round  about,  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
giveth  thee  for  an  inheritance  to  possess  it,  that  thou 
shalt  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  Amalek  from  under 
heaven  ;  thou  shalt  not  forget. 

And  it  shall  be,  when  thou  art  come  in  unto  the  land  26 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for  an  inheritance, 
and  possessest  it,  and  dwellest  therein  ;  that  thou  shalt  2 
take  of  the  first  of  all  the  fruit  of  the  ground,  which  thou 


and  thenceforward  (i  Sam.  xiv.  48,  xv.  2,  3,  xxvii.  8,  xxx.  if.; 
2  Sam.  viii.  12',  till  the  disappearance  of  this  people  from  history. 
19.  rest :  see  on  xii.  10. 
blot  out,  &c.  :  based  on  Exod.  xvii.  14. 

xxvi.  i-ii.  Liturgy  for  {annual)  presentation  of  first-fruits; 
acknowledgement  of  the  Divine  Providence.  Every  year  the 
Israelite  shall  offer  a  basketful  of  first-fruits  at  the  altar  in 
Jerusalem,  and  acknowledge  that  Yahweh  has  kept  His  promise 
(verses  1-4).  In  prescribed  words  he  shall  recall  the  history  of 
his  people  from  the  time  of  Jacob  to  the  settlement  in  Canaan, 
and  shall  confess  that  Yahweh  is  the  giver  of  the  first-fruits  pre- 
sented (verses  5-10*).  The  basket  shall  be  deposited  at  the  altar, 
and  there  shall  be  a  family  feast  (verses  io''-ii). 

This  liturgy  stands  suitably  at  the  end  of  the  legal  code  (chaps. 
xii-xxv),  and,  with  that  which  follows,  relating  to  the  tithes 
(verses  12-15^  illustrates  the  spirituality  of  the  ritual  ceremonies 
of  Israel's  religion  (see  on  verse  5).  That  the  ceremony  is  to  be 
annually  performed  appears  from  its  general  character  ;  it  relates 
to  all  the  first-fruits,  i.  e.  those  of  each  successive  year.  The 
occasion  is  not  stated,  but  must  be  one  of  the  three  feasts  of 
xvi.  16,  perhaps  the  Feast  of  Weeks  (Pentecost). 

1 .  As  xvii.  14. 

2.  theflrst  of  all  the  fruit :  the  first-fruits  have  been  mentioned 
already  in  xviii.  4  as  the  due  of  the  priests,  and  may  be  included  in 
the  heave-offering  of  xii.  6,  11,  17.  Here,  apparently,  of  a  re- 
presentative part. 


i86  DEUTERONOMY  26.  3-5.     » 

shalt  bring  in  from  thy  land  that  the  Lord  thy  God 
giveth  thee  ;  and  thou  shalt  put  it  in  a  basket,  and  shalt 
go  unto  the  place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  choose  to 

3  cause  his  name  to  dwell  there.  And  thou  shalt  come 
unto  the  priest  that  shall  be  in  those  days,  and  say  unto 
him,  I  profess  this  day  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  I 
am  come  unto  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  our 

4  fathers  for  to  give  us.  And  the  priest  shall  take  the 
basket  out  of  thine  hand,  and  set  it  down  before  the 

6  altar  of  the  Lord  thy  God.  And  thou  shalt  answer  and 
say  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  A  »  Syrian  ^  ready  to  perish 
was  my  father,  and  he  went  down  into  Egypt,  and 
sojourned  there,  few  in  number  ;  and  he  became  there  a 

*  Heb.  Aramean.  "  Or,  wandering    Or,  lost 


bring*  in  :  i.e.  from  the  field  or  garden  to  the  barn  (2  Sam. 
ix.  10  ;  Hag.  i.  6,  '  ye  have  sown  much  and  bring  in  little '). 

a  basket:  cf.  xxviii.  5,  17,  where  it  is  a  typical  and  familiar 
article,  mentioned  along  with  the  kneading-trough. 

the  place,  &c.  :  see  on  xii.  5. 

3.  that  shall  be  in  those  days:  (xvii.  9,  xix.  i7\  i.e.  of  the 
year  in  question  (the  chief  of  the  priests  being  meant). 

profess :  '  declare,'  i.  e.  that  Yahweh's  oath  to  the  fathers 
(see  on  i.  8)  has  been  faithfully  kept. 

4.  'The  basket-bearing  priest  is  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the 
Assyrian  sculptures'  {D.B.,  i.  256*). 

5.  A  Syrian  ready  to  perish  :  the  reference  is  to  Jacob  'the 
Aramaean,'  whose  mother,  Rebecca,  was  from  Aram-Naharaim 
(Gen.  xxiv.  10),  and  whose  ancestral  kindred  (xxiv.  4)  were  of 
the  same  country.  He  himself  *fled  into  the  country  of  Aram' 
(Hos.  xii.  12),  served  Laban,  and  married  his  daughters  there 
(Gen.  xxix-xxxi).  The  marginal  alternatives  to  '  ready  to  perish  ' 
are  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Hebrew  word  for  '  perish '  is  applied 
to  animals  'straying'  or  'lost'  (i  Sam.  ix,  3,  20;  Jer.  1.  6). 
The  emphasis  on  Jacob  is  intended  to  bring  out  the  lowly  origin 
of  Israel.  Thanksgiving  for  present  prosperity  is  made  intelligent 
and  vivid  by  the  contrast  with  past  adversity. 

he  went  down  into  Eg-ypt :  Gen.  xlvi.  i  f. :  the  number  of 
che  family  group  migrating  to  Egypt  being  seventy  (Gen.  xlvi.  26, 
27  :  cf.  Gen.  xxxiv.  30). 


DEUTERONOMY  26.  6-13.     D  187 

nation,  great,  mighty,  and  populous  :  and  the  Egyptians  6 
evil  entreated  us,  and  afflicted  us,  and  laid  upon  us  hard 
bondage  :  and  we  cried  unto  the  Lord,  the  God  of  our  7 
fathers,  and  the  Lord  heard  our  voice,  and  saw  our 
affliction,   and  our  toil,  and  our  oppression  :   and  the  8 
Lord  brought  us  forth  out  of  Egypt  with  a  mighty  hand, 
and  with   an  outstretched  arm,  and  with  great  terrible- 
ness,  and  with  signs,  and  with  wonders  :    and  he  hath  9 
brought  us  into  this  place,  and  hath  given  us  this  land, 
a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.     And  now,  behold,  10 
I  have  brought  the  first  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground,  which 
thou,  O  Lord,  hast  given  me.     And  thou  shalt  set  it 
down  before  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  worship  before  the 
Lord  thy  God  :  and  thou  shalt  rejoice  in  all  the  good  1 1 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  unto  thee,  and  unto 
thine  house,  thou,  and  the  Levite,  and  the  stranger  that 
is  in  the  midst  of  thee. 

When  thou  hast  made  an  end  of  tithing  all  the  tithe  12 
of  thine  increase  in  the  third  year,  which  is  the  year  of 
tithing,  then  thou  shalt  give  it  unto  the  Levite,  to  the 
stranger,  to  the  fatherless,  and  to  the  widow,  that  they 
may  eat  within  thy  gates,  and  be  filled  ;  and  thou  shalt  say  1 3 


great,  mig-hty,  and  poptQous :  Exod.  i.  9. 
6-8.  Exod.  i.  12,  14,  ii.  23,  iii.  7,  9;    Num.  xx.  15,    i6;    Deut. 
iv.  34. 

9.  flowing  with,  milk  and  honey :  see  on  vi.  3. 

10.  hast  given  me  :  by  the  series  of  events  recapitulated, 
leading  up  to  the  possession  of  Canaan  ;  these  fruits,  and  the 
opportunity  to  enjoy  them,  come  alike  from  Yahweh,  not  from  the 
Baalim  of  Canaan. 

11.  Cf.  xii.  I,  12,  18,  xvi.  II,  14. 

xxvi.  12-15.  Triennial  Declaration  of  Tithe  and  Prayer  for 
Prosperity. 

la.  in  the  third  year:  the  tithe  of  this  year  being  exception- 
ally devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  dependent  (xiv.  28). 


i8&  DEUTERONOMY  26.  14-17.     D 

before  the  Lord  thy  God,  I  have  put  away  the  hallowed 
things  out  of  mine  house,  and  also  have  given  them  unto 
the  Levite,  and  unto  the  stranger,  to  the  fatherless,  and 
to  the  widow,  according  to  all  thy  commandment  which 
thou  hast  commanded  me :  I  have  not  transgressed  any 
of  thy  commandments,  neither  have  I  forgotten  them  : 

14  I  have  not  eaten  thereof  in  my  mourning,  neither  have  I 
put  away  thereof,  being  unclean,  nor  given  thereof  for 
the  dead :  I  have  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord 
my  God,  I  have  done  according  to  all  that  thou  hast 

-5  commanded  me.  Look  down  from  thy  holy  habitation, 
from  heaven,  and  bless  thy  people  Israel,  and  the  ground 
which  thou  hast  given  us,  as  thou  swarest  unto  our 
fathers,  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 

16  This  day  the  Lord  thy  God  commandeth  thee  to  do 
these  statutes  and  judgements  :  thou  shalt  therefore  keep 
and  do  them  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul. 

1 7  Thou  hast  avouched  the  Lord  this  day  to  be  thy  God, 

13.  before  Yahweh  thy  God:  probably  not  at  home  (Gen. 
xxvii.  7),  but  at  one  of  the  feasts  at  Jerusalem,  more  especially  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles,  which  completed  the  agricultural  year, 

the  hanowed  thing's:  i,  e.  the  tithe,  as  '  holy'  to  Yahweh  ; 
the  same  word  ('  put  away')  is  used  of  its  removal  as  in  xiii.  5, 
xvii.  7,  12,  xix.  13,  19,  xxi.  21,  xxii.  21-4,  xxiv.  7  ;  the  tithe  is 
under  a  taboo. 

14.  Three  sources  ofpollution  are  disclaimed — (a)  consumption 
of  tithe  by  a  mourner,  ceremonially  unclean  by  his  association 
with  death  (Hos.  ix.  4)  ;  (6)  separation  of  tithe  by  one  *  unclean' 
(cf.  Lev.  xxii.  if.);  (c)  devotion  of  tithe  to  (or  for)  the  dead.  The 
last  probably  refers  to  the  well-known  custom,  amongst  many 
peoples,  of  offering  food,  &c.,  at  a  grave  for  the  consumption  of 
the  departed  spirit. 

xxvi.  16-19.  Conclusion  to  Code.  Let  Israel  obey  these  com- 
mands, for  to-day  Israel  has  accepted  Yahweh  as  God,  and  Yahweh 
has  accepted  Israel  as  His  unique  people.  (The  conclusion  of  a 
covenant  is  presupposed.) 

17,  18.  avouched:  lit  *  caused  to  say,'  i.  e.  to  acknowledge, 
which  may  be  the  better  rendering  here. 


DEUTERONOMY  26.  i8— 27.  2.     D  R^       189 

and  that  thou  shouldest  walk  in  his  ways,  and  keep  his 
statutes,  and  his  commandments,  and  his  judgements, 
and  hearken  unto  his  voice :  and  the  LfORD  hath  18 
avouched  thee  this  day  to  be  a  peculiar  people  unto  him- 
self, as  he  hath  promised  thee,  and  that  thou  shouldest 
keep  all  his  commandments;  and  to  make  thee  high  above  19 
all  nations  which  he  hath  made,  ^  in  praise,  and  in  name, 
and  in  honour ;  and  that  thou  mayest  be  an  holy  people 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  as  he  hath  spoken. 

[R°]  And  Moses  and  the  elders  of  Israel  commanded  27 
the  people,  saying,  Keep  all  the  commandment  which  I 
command  you  this  day.     And  it  shall  be  on  the  day  2 
when  ye  shall  pass  over  Jordan  unto  the  land  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  that  thou  shalt  set  thee  up 

*  Or,  for  a  praise,  and  for  a  name,  and  for  an  honour 


19.  Read  with  R.  V.  raarg.  ;  Israel  is  to  be  all  this  for  Yahweh, 
a  '  holy '  people,  as  being  separate  from  all  others,  a  *  peculiar 
people '  (vii.  6), 

xxvii.  Command  to  erect  stones,  inscribed  with  the  law,  on 
Mount  Ebal ;  also  to  build  an  altar  there  (verses  1-8).  Appeal 
for  obedience  (verses  9,  10).  The  tribes,  in  two  divisions,  shall 
stand  on  Gerizim  and  Ebal  for  the  blessing  and  the  curse 
respectively  (verses  11-13).  A  series  of  twelve  curses  to  be 
pronounced  by  the  Levites. 

This  chapter  is  generally  admitted  to  belong  to  the  secondary 
elements  of  the  book,  as  appears  from — (a)  its  lack  of  hterary 
unity,  (6)  the  interruption  in  the  address  of  Moses,  continued 
without  apparent  break  or  explanation  in  chap,  xxviii.  The  em- 
phasis on  the  place  of  the  Levites  and  the  character  of  the  curses 
suggest  a  late  addition,  though  the  curses  themselves  may  be  an 
old  liturgical  ofRce,  used  on  solemn  occasions  (Driver,  p.  300). 
The  points  of  contact  are  with  the  Book  of  the  Covenant  and  with 
the  Law  of  Holiness,  rather  than  with  Deuteronomy. 

1.  and  the  elders:  here  only  associated  with  Moses  in  giving 
commandment. 

2.  plalster  :  the  stones  were  whitewashed  to  afford  a  writing 
suiface,  as  was  the  customary  Egyptian  practice. 


I90        DEUTERONOMY  27.  3-7-     R""  JE  R^ 

3  great  stones,  and  plaister  them  with  plaister :  and  thou 
shalt  write  upon  them  all  the  words  of  this  law,  when 
thou  art  passed  over ;  that  thou  mayest  go  in  unto  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  a  land  flowing 
with   milk  and   honey,  as   the  Lord,  the  God  of  thy 

4  fathers,  hath  promised  thee.  And  it  shall  be  when  ye 
are  passed  over  Jordan,  that  ye  shall  set  up  these  stones, 
which  I  command  you  this  day,  in  mount  Ebal,  and  thou 

5  shalt  plaister  them  with  plaister.  [JE]  And  there  shalt 
thou  build  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  an  altar  of 

6  stones  :  thou  shalt  lift  up  no  iron  tool  upon  them.  Thou 
shalt  build  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy  God  of «-  unhewn 
stones  :  and  thou  shalt  offer  burnt  offerings  thereon  unto 

7  the  Lord  thy  God :  and  thou  shalt  sacrifice  peace 
offerings,  [R°]  and  shalt  eat  there ;  and  thou  shalt  rejoice 

*  Heb.  whole. 

3.  The  best  example  of  the  inscription  of  laws  (by  engraving) 
on  stone  is  afforded  by  the  parallel  Code  of  Hammurabi,  dis- 
covered in  1902  on  a  block  of  black  diorite,  about  eight  feet  high 
(see  Introd.,  p.  20).  In  this  way  laws  were  *  published '  in  ancient 
times,  and  made  accessible  to  all,  as  is  expressly  stated  on  the 
above  stone. 

all  the  words  of  this  law :  how  much  of  Deuteronomy 
v-xxvi  is  included  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say.  Of  the 
Code  of  Hammurabi  3,614  lines  are  extant. 

4.  mount  Ebal :  xi.  29.  The  Pentateuch  of  the  Samaritans 
reads  '  Gerizim,*  an  alteration  in  favour  of  their  sacred  mountain. 

5.  Cf,  Exod.  XX.  25  ;  the  prohibition  of  worked  stone  springs 
from  the  belief  that  the  stone  in  its  natural  state  is  more  sacred 
than  a  stone  artificially  hewn  (verse  6),  and  from  the  conservatism 
of  religion  which  opposes  any  innovation  on  primitive  simplicity. 
The  earliest  altar  was  a  stone  like  that  taken  by  Jacob  at  Bethel 
(Gen.  xxviii.  18). 

6.  burnt  offeringrs :  see  on  xii.  6  ;  these  religious  ceremonies 
ratify  the  covenant  between  Yahweh  and  Israel. 

7.  peace  offering's :  Exod.  xx.  24 ;  called  in  xii.  6,  and  else- 
where  in  Deuteronomy,  '  sacrifices.' 

Shalt  eat  there,  &c.  :  cf.  xii.  7,  12  ;  the  sacrificial  meal  is 
part  of  the  ceremony  of  the  *  peace-offering. ' 


DEUTERONOMY  27.  8-13.     R''  D  R^     191 

before  the  Lord  thy  God.     And  thou  shalt  write  upon  8 
the  stones  all  the  words  of  this  law  very  plainly. 

[D]  And  Moses  and  the  priests  the  Levites  spake  unto  all  9 
Israel,   saying,  Keep   silence,   and   hearken,  O   Israel; 
this  day  thou  art  become  the  people  of  the  Lord  thy 
God.     Thou  shalt  therefore  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord  10 
thy  God,  and  do  his  commandments  and  his  statutes, 
which  I  command  thee  this  day. 

[R°]  And  Moses  charged  the  people  the  same  day,  n 
saying,  These  shall  stand  upon  mount  Gerizim  to  bless  12 
the  people,  when  ye  are  passed  over  Jordan  ;   Simeon, 
and  Levi,  and  Judah,   and  Issachar,  and  Joseph,  and 
Benjamin :  and  these  shall  stand  upon  mount  Ebal  for  1 3 


S.  the  stones :  distinct  from  those  of  the  altar.  This  command, 
and  the  record  of  its  fulfilment  in  Joshua  viii.  30,  31,  imply  the 
existence  of  such  an  altar  and  stones  at  the  time  of  the  writers. 

9,  10.  These  verses  should  be  compared  with  xxvi.  16-19. 
whose  thought  they  continue,  and  to  whose  phraseology  they 
are  closely  related.  Israel  must  obey  the  voice  of  Yahweh  (xxvi, 
17)  and  do  His  commands  (xxvi.  17),  because  this  day  (xxvi.  16, 
17,  18)  Israel  has  accepted  the  position  of  Yahweh's  people 
(xxvi.  18).  On  the  other  hand,  their  thought  is  continued  in 
xxviii,  I,  2.  Dillmanii  suggests  that  the  priests  the  Levites 
is  a  later  addition  in  view  of  verses  11-26. 

11-13.  In  xi.  29  the  alternative  blessing  or  curse  of  obedience 
or  disobedience  to  the  law  is  emphasized  by  reference  to  a  future 
ceremony  in  Canaan  which  shall  bring  both  home  to  the  Israelite 
and  confirm  them  for  the  new  country.  Here  the  ceremony  is 
partially  described ;  its  actual  accomplishment  is  narrated  in 
Joshua  viii.  30-5. 

12.  These  shall  stand  :  the  tribes  are  divided,  for  the  cursing 
and  the  blessing  (north  and  south)  geographically,  according  to 
.Steuernagel ;  the  eastern,  Reuben  and  Gad,  and  the  northern 
Asher,  Zebulon,  Dan,  Naphtali,  are  opposed  to  the  western  and 
southern  tribes,  Simeon,  Judah,  Joseph,  Benjamin,  Issachar,  with 
Levi.  This  explanation,  however,  does  not  suit  the  position  of 
Issachar,  and  most  (e.  g.  Dillmann,  Driver,  Bertholet^  explain  the 
division  by  the  birth  through  concubines  of  Dan,  Naphtali,  Gad, 
and  Asher  ^^Geu.  xxx.  1-13),  Reuben's  forfeiture  of  birthright  (Gen. 


192  DEUTERONOMY  27.  14-20.     R^  ? 

the  curse ;  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Asher,  and  Zebulun,  Dan, 

14  and  Naphtali.  [?]  And  the  Levites  shall  answer,  and 
say  unto  all  the  men  of  Israel  with  a  loud  voice, 

15  Cursed  be  the  man  that  maketh  a  graven  or  molten 
image,  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord,  the  work  of  the 
hands  of  the  craftsman,  and  setteth  it  up  in  secret. 
And  all  the  people  shall  answer  and  say,  Amen. 

.  6  Cursed  be  he  that  setteth  light  by  his  father  or  his  mother. 

And  all  the  people  shall  say.  Amen. 
1 7      Cursed  be  he  that  removeth  his  neighbour's  landmark. 

And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 
iS      Cursed  be  he  that  maketh  the  blind  to  wander  out  of 

the  way.     And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

19  Cursed  be  he  that  wresteth  the  judgement  of  the 
stranger,  fatherless,  and  widow.  And  all  the  people 
shall  say.  Amen. 

20  Cursed  be  he  that  lieth  with  his  father's  wife  ;  because 

XXXV.  22,  xlix.  4),  and  Zebulon's  place  as  the  youngest  son  of 
Leah  (Gen.  xxx.  20),  which  account  for  these  tribes  being  appointed 
to  curse. 

14  f.  The  number  of  the  curses  is  doubtless  suggested  by 
that  of  the  twelve  tribes.  They  relate  to — (i)  imageless  religion, 
(2)  dishonour  of  parents,  (3)  removal  of  landmark,  (4)  want  of 
humanity  to  blind,  (5)  injustice  to  the  helpless,  (6-9)  incest  and 
immorality,  (10)  murder,  (11)  bribery,  (12)  general  disobedience 
to  the  law. 

the  Iievites:  not,  as  in  verse  12,  the  members  of  a  secular 
tribe,  but  in  the  official  sense  of  x.  8  (clergy  as  opposed  to  laity). 

15.  Cursed:  see  on  Joshua  vi.  26. 

a  graven  or  molten  image :  iv.  16,  ix.  12 ;  Exod.  xx.  4 
(Deut.  V.  8)  ;  Lev.  xix.  4,  xxvi.  i. 

Amen :  (Neh.  viii.  6)  '  verily ' ;  may  be  used  at  the  beginning 
of  a  sentence,  with  reference  to  previous  words  (i  Kings  i.  36)  ; 
alone  (as  here,  with  the  implied  sentence  '  let  this  curse  be ')  ;  or 
at  theend  of  something  said,  as  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  {E.B.,  136, 137). 

16.  V.  16  (  =  Exod.  XX.  12)  ;  Exod.  xxi.  17  ;  Lev.  xx.  9. 
setteth  lig-ht  by:   '  dishonoureth,'  opposed  to  the  'honour* 

of  the  fifth  commandment. 

ir  {xix.  14).     18  (Lev.  xix.  14).     19  (xxiv.  17  ;  Exod.   xxii. 


DEUTERONOMY  27.  21— 28.  i.     ?  D        193 

he  hath  uncovered  his  father's  skirt.     And  all  the  people 
shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  lieth  with   any  manner   of  beast.  21 
And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  lieth  with  his  sister,  the  daughter  of  22 
his  father,  or  the  daughter  of  his  mother.     And  all  the 
people  shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  lieth  with  his  mother  in  law.     And  23 
all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  smiteth  his  neighbour  in  secret.  24 
And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  taketh  reward  to  slay  an  innocent  25 
person.     And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

Cursed  be  he  that  confirmeth  not  the  words  of  this  26 
law  to  do  them.     And  all  the  people  shall  say,  Amen. 

[D]  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  shalt  hearken  28 


21  f.  ;  Lev.  xix.  33  f.).  20  (xxii.  30;  Lev.  xviii.  8,  xx,  11).  21 
(Exod.  xxii.  19  ;  Lev.  xviii.  23,  xx.  15).  22  (Lev.  xviii.  9,  xx. 
17  ;  contrast  Gen.  xx.  12,  2  Sam.  xiii.  12,  13).  23  (Lev.  xviii.  17, 
XX.  14).  24  (v.  20— Exod.  XX.  16,  Deut.  xix.  11;  Exod.  xxi.  12; 
Lev.  xxiv.  17).  25  (xvi.  19  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  8  ;  both  in  more  general 
sense). 

26.  Cf.  2  Kings  xxiii.  3,  24,  where  Josiah  <  confirms '  {lit.  *  makes 
to  stand')  the  Deuteronomic  law. 

The  above  '  curses  '  may  be  the  codification  of  early  decisions 
given  at  the  sanctuary  of  Shechem— each  a  primitive  Torah— as  we 
may  infer  from  the  names  given  to  the  sacred  trees  there,  *  the 
oak  of  the  teacher'  (Moreh,  Gen.  xii.  6),  or  'of  the  augurs' 
(Judges  ix.  37,  R.V.  marg.).  Meyer-Luther  {Die  Israelitm, 
p.  552%  in  pointing  this  out,  suggest  that  such  early  legislation  at 
Shechem  accounts  for  the  insertion  of  Deut.  xii-xxvi  between 
the  two  parts  of  the  Shechem  narrative  (Deut.  xi.  26  30, 
xxvii.  1-26). 

xxviii.  Comhisiott.  A  detailed  declaration  of  the  blessings  of 
prosperity,  which  shall  be  conditional  on  obedience  to  the  law 
now  given  (verses  1-14).  A  parallel  declaration  of  the  curses  of 
adversity,  which  shall  punish  disobedience  inverses  15-25,  38-46^. 
Further   description   of  the   terrors  of  this  divine  punishment 

O 


194  DEUTERONOMY  28.  2-4.     D 

diligently   unto   the   voice   of  the   Lord   thy  God,   to 

observe  to  do  all  his  commandments  which  I  command 

thee  this  day,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  will  set  thee  on 

2  high  above  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  :   and  all  these 

blessings  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  overtake  thee,   if 

thou  shalt  hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God. 

?i  Blessed  shalt  thou  be  in  the  city,  and  blessed  shalt  thou 

4  be  in  the  field.     Blessed  shall  be  the  fruit  of  thy  body, 

(verses  26-37).  Invasion  by  a  fierce  enemy ;  the  horrors  of 
a  protracted  siege  (verses  47-57^  Disobedient  Israel  plagued 
and  scattered  in  exile  ;  life  a  burden  ;  return  to  the  slavery  of 
Egypt  (verses  58-68). 

This  chapter  of  solemn  and  forceful  warning  seems  to  belong, 
at  least  in  part,  to  the  original  law-book  of  Josiah,  The  evidence 
for  this  is  {a)  the  impression  made  on  him  by  the  book  v(^hen  first 
read  (2  Kings  xxii.  11,  13'i  which  requires  such  severe  warnings 
as  these  ;  {d)  the  parallel  conclusions  to  the  '  Book  of  the 
Covenant'  (Exod.  xxiii.  20-33)  and  to  the  Law  of  Holiness  (Lev. 
xxvi)  ;  (c)  the  natural  continuation  in  xxviii.  i  of  the  thought  and 
language  of  xxvii.  10  (xxvi.  19^.  But  it  is  difficult  to  maintain 
the  unity  of  chap,  xxviii.  The  curses  are  so  very  disproportionate 
in  length  to  the  blessings  that  they  seem  to  have  been  considerably 
expanded.  A  natural  conclusion  is  reached  at  verse  46  ;  the  first 
of  the  two  following  sections  (verses  47-57)  implies  experience  of 
the  exile  and  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  the  second  (verses  58  68) 
also  implies  the  exile  and  the  ^previous)  existence  of  the  Deuter- 
onomic  law  in  writing.  Within  the  earlier  half  of  the  chapter,  also, 
there  seems  to  be  later  addition,  and  Bertholet  is  probably  right 
in  regarding  verses  26-37  '"  this  light.  The  nucleus  of  the 
chapter,  forming  the  original  conclusion  to  the  Deuteronomic  Code, 
will  then  be  verses  1-25%  38-46,  a  parallel  and  symmetrical  list 
of  blessings  and  curses. 

1.  The  connexion  of  thought,  through  xxvii.  9-10,  with  xxvi. 
16-19  is  to  be  noted.  The  infrequent  word  rendered  '  on  high  ' 
Celyoiii  occurs  also  in  xxvi.  19,  and  nowhere  else  in  the  prose  of 
Deuteronomy    once  only  in  the  poetry,  xxxii.  8). 

2.  overtake:  the  blessings  and  curses  verse  15  are  personified, 
the  same  word  being  used  here  as  of  the  avenger  of  blood  (xix.  6). 

xxviii.  3-6.  Six  formal  blessings  cover  life  in  town  and  country, 
offspring  (or  produce  ■,  the  supply  of  food,  the  beginning  and  the 
end  of  each  undertaking. 

4.  Cf.  vii.  13  ;  the  blessing  of  fertility  in  every  form  of  life. 


DEUTERONOMY  28.  5-1 1.     D  195 

and  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  cattle, 
the  increase  of  thy  kine,  and  the  young  of  thy  flock. 
Blessed  shall  be  thy  basket  and  thy  kneading-trough.  5 
Blessed  shalt  thou  be  when  thou  comest  in,  and  blessed  r, 
shalt  thou  be  when  thou  goest  out.     The  Lord  shall  7 
cause  thine  enemies   that   rise   up   against  thee  to  be 
smitten  before  thee :  they  shall  come  out  against  thee  one 
way,  and  shall  flee  before  thee  seven  ways.     The  Lord  8 
shall  command  the  blessing  upon  thee  in  thy  barns,  and 
in  all  that  thou  puttest  thine  hand  unto;  and  he  shall 
bless  thee  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 
thee.     The  Lord  shall  establish  thee  for  an  holy  people  9 
unto  himself,  as  he  hath  sworn  unto  thee ;  if  thou  shalt 
keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  walk 
in  his  ways.     And  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  shall  see  that  10 
thou  art  called  by  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;   and  they 
shall  be  afraid  of  thee.     And  the  Lord  shall  make  thee  1 1 


5.  basket :  see  xxvi.  2,  here  representative  of  plentiful  stores. 
kneadinsr-trough :    Exod.  viii.   3,   xii.  34  ;    essential  to  the 

preparation  of  the  daily  bread,   like   the  mill  of  xxiv.  6  ;   here 
representative  of  plentiful  meals. 

6.  comest  in  .  .  .  ffoest  out :  Ps.  cxxi.  8 ;  a  standing  phrase, 
used  by  Moses  (xxxi.  2),  Caleb  (Joshua  xiv.  ii),  Solomon  (i  Kings 
iii.  7),  to  cover  the  activities  of  ordinary  life. 

7.  oanse :  Heb.  '  give '  (as  smitten  ones'  ;  their  concentrated 
attack  shall  be  followed  by  the  pursuit  of  them  as  scattered 
fugitives. 

8.  shall  command  :  Heb.  '  command  '  (jussive,  as  is  the  verb 
in  verses  21,  36. 

npon  thee:  Heb.  *  with  thee '  (see  on  verse  2). 

9.  an  holy  people :  vii.  6,  xiv.  2,  xxvi.  19.  The  primarily  non- 
ethical  meaning  of  the  term  is  apparent  ;  '  an  holy  people  '  is  one 
separated  to  Yahweh,  apart  from  actual  character  in  the  first 
instance  ;  when  Israel  obeys,  Yahweh  will  confirm  His  choice  of 
this  people  as  His  special  property  (cf.  Exod.  xix.  5,  6\ 

10.  thou  art  called  by  the  name  of  Yahweh :  rather,  *  the 
name  of  Yahweh  is  called  over  thee  '  (as  owner,  cf.  2  Sam.  xii. 
28,  R.  V.  marg.),  Jer.  xiv.  9,  &c. 

o  2 


196  DEUTERONOMY  28.  12-19.     D 

plenteous  for  good,  in  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  in  the 
fruit  of  thy  cattle,  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto  thy  fathers  to  give  thee. 

12  The  Lord  shall  open  unto  thee  his  good  « treasure  the 
heaven  to  give  the  rain  of  thy  land  in  its  season,  and  to 
bless  all  the  work  of  thine  hand :  and  thou  shalt  lend 

13  unto  many  nations,  and  thou  shalt  not  borrow.  And 
the  Lord  shall  make  thee  the  head,  and  not  the  tail ;  and 
thou  shalt  be  above  only,  and  thou  shalt  not  be  beneath ; 
if  thou  shalt  hearken  unto  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord   thy   God,  which  I   command  thee  this  day,  to 

14  observe  and  to  do  them ;  and  shalt  not  turn  aside  from 
any  of  the  words  which  I  command  you  this  day, 
to  the  right  hand,  or  to  the  left,  to  go  after  other  gods  to 
serve  them. 

15  But  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  thou  wilt  not  hearken 
unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  observe  to  do  all 
his  commandments  and  his  statutes  which  I  command 
thee  this  day;    that  all  these  curses  shall  come  upon 

16  thee,  and  overtake  thee.     Cursed  shalt  thou  be  in  the 

17  city,  and  cursed  shalt  thou  be  in  the  field.     Cursed  shall 

18  be  thy  basket  and  thy  kneadingtrough.  Cursed  shall  be 
the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  the 

19  increase  of  thy  kine,  and  the  young  of  thy  flock.  Cursed 
shalt  thou  be  when  thou  comest  in,  and  cursed  shalt 

*  Or,  treasury 

12.  treasure :  R.  V.  marg.  gives  the  better  rendering,  the 
reference  being  to  the  store  of  water  above  the  firmament  (Gen. 
i.  7,  vii.  II  :  cf.  Deut.  xi.  11,  17).  From  this  'treasury'  (Job 
xxxviii.  22)  comes  the  nation's  (agricultural)  wealth  and  its  financial 
independence. 

13.  Cf.  Isa.  ix.  14,  xix.  15. 

15-19.  These  curses  take  the  same  verbal  form  as  the  blessings 
(verses  1-6),  except  that  verses  i*^  and  2^  are  not  represented 
and  verse  17  precedes  verse  18. 


DEUTERONOMY  28.  20-25.     D  i97 

thou  be  when  thou  goest  out.     The  Lord  shall  send  20 
upon  thee  cursing,  discomfiture,  and  rebuke,  in  all  that 
thou  puttest  thine  hand  unto  for  to  do,  until  thou  be 
destroyed,  and  until  thou  perish  quickly ;  because  of  the 
evil   of  thy   doings,  whereby   thou   hast    forsaken   me. 
The  Lord  shall  make  the  pestilence  cleave  unto  thee,  21 
until  he  have  consumed  thee  from  off  the  land,  whither 
thou  goest  in  to  possess  it.     The  Lord  shall  smite  thee  23 
with  consumption,  and  with  fever,  and  with  inflammation, 
and   with   fiery   heat,   and   with  ^'^the  sword,  and   with 
blasting,  and  with  mildew;    and  they  shall  pursue  thee 
until  thou  perish.     And  thy  heaven  that   is   over   thy  23 
head  shall  be  brass,  and  the  earth  that  is  under  thee 
shall  be  iron.     The  Lord   shall  make  the  rain  of  thy  24 
land  powder  and  dust :  from  heaven  shall  it  come  down 
upon  thee,  until  thou  be  destroyed.     The  Lord  shall  25 
cause  thee  to  be  smitten  before  thine  enemies  :    thou 
shalt  go  out  one  way  against  them,  and  shalt  flee  seven 

*  Or,  according  to  some  ancient  versions,  drought 

20  f.  The  exact  parallelism  with  the  blessings  is  here  abandoned, 
but  there  is  a  general  similarity  as  far  as  verse  25  *,  resumed  in 
verses  38-46. 

21.  pestilence:  a  general  term  for  *  plague,'  as  is  indicated  by 
its  use  in  the  frequent  Jeremianic  phrase,  '  I  will  consume  them 
by  the  sword  and  by  the  famine  and  by  the  pestilence'  (xiv.  12,  &c.). 

22.  Seven  plagues  shall  pursue  Israel,  like  the  sevenfold 
enemy  of  verse  25  (cf.  verse  2)— the  first  four  being  assailants  of 
men,  the  last  three  of  crops, 

the  sword  :  read,  with  R.  V.  marg.,  *  drought,'  which  requires 
no  change  in  the  Hebrew  consonants. 

23.  Cf.  Lev.  xxvi.  19  ;  the  drought  described  is  the  opposite  of 
what  is  promised  in  verse  12  ;  the  hardened  earth  yields  no  fruit, 
since  the  closed  heaven  gives  no  rain. 

24.  The  well-known  sirocco  in  which  'The  air  becomes 
loaded  with  fine  dust,  which  it  whirls  in  rainless  clouds  hither 
and  thither'    Thomson,  The  Land  and  the  Booh,  pp.  295,  536). 

25.  seven  ways  :  see  on  verse  7,  here  reversed. 


198  DEUTERONOMY  28.  26-30.     D  D' 

ways  before  them  :  [D']  and  thou  shalt  be  *  tossed  to 

26  and  fro  among  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  And  thy 
carcase  shall  be  meat  unto  all  fowls  of  the  air,  and  unto 
the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  there  shall  be  none  to  fray 

27  them  away.  The  Lord  shall  smite  thee  with  the  boil  of 
Egypt,  and  with  the  ^  emerods,  and  with  the  scurvy,  and 

28  with  the  itch,  whereof  thou  canst  not  be  healed.  The 
Lord  shall  smite  thee  with  madness,  and  with  blindness, 

29  and  with  astonishment  of  heart :  and  thou  shalt  grope  at 
noonday,  as  the  blind  gropeth  in  darkness,  and  thou 
shalt  not  prosper  in  thy  ways :  and  thou  shalt  be  only 
oppressed  and  spoiled  alway,  and  there  shall  be  none 

3^  to  save  thee.     Thou  shalt  betroth  a  wife,  and  another 
man  shall  lie  with  her :  thou  shalt  build  an  house,  and 
thou  shalt  not  dwell  therein  :   thou  shalt  plant  a  vine- 
■  Or,  a  terror  tinto  ^  Or,  tumours    Or,  plague  boils 

tossed  to  and  fro:    Heb.   'a  trembling,*  i.e.  an   object  of 
terror  (R.  V.  marg.^. 

The  second  half  of  the  verse  appears  to  be  a  reproduction  of 
a  Jeremianic  refrain  (Jer.  xv.  4,  xxiv.  9,  xxix.  18,  xxxiv.  17), 
whilst  verse  26  repeats  Jer.  vii.  33.  The  subsequent  verses 
(to  37)  are  most  naturally  understood  as  written  after  the  actual 
experiences  of  the  captivity  and  exile. 

2G.  Dishonour  to  the  corpse  meant  far  more   to  the  ancient 
world  than  to  the  modern  ;  it  involved  the  fortunes  of  the  person- 
ality in  the  dim  realm  beyond. 
fray  :  i.  e.  *  frighten.' 

27.  the  boil  of  Egrypt  (Exod.  ix.  9,  &c.)  :  some  form  of  skin 
disease,  possibly  elephantiasis.  Skin  diseases,  such  as  those  named 
in  this  verse,  were  and  are  common  in  Syria  and  Egypt  (vii.  15). 

emerods :    i.  e.    haemorrhoids   (piles),    a    possible   meaning 
suggested  by  the  usage  of  the  Arabic  cognate. 

28.  Cf.  Zech.  xii.  4  for  these  three  expressions  of  mental 
disorder  and  dismay. 

29.  ifrope :  Hebrew,  more  vividh',  'be  groping'  :  cf.  Isa.  lix. 
to  ;  Job  v.  14. 

prosper  in:   '  make  prosperous,'  as  in  Joshua  i.  8. 
xxviii.  30-34.   The  Calawities  of  Foreign  Invasion  :    cf.  verse  29 
*  oppressed  and  spoiled  '  (robbed). 


DEUTERONOMY  28.  31-39.     ^' ^  i99 

yard,  and  shalt  not  »  use  the  fruit  thereof.     Thine  ox  3^ 
shall  be  slain  before  thine  eyes,  and  thou  shalt  not  eat 
thereof:    thine  ass  shall  be  violently  taken  away  from 
before  thy  face,  and  shall  not  be  restored  to  thee :  thy 
sheep  shall  be  given  unto  thine  enemies,  and  thou  shalt 
have  none  to  save  thee.     Thy  sons  and  thy  daughters  32 
shall  be  given  unto  another  people,  and  thine  eyes  shall 
look,    and   fail    with    longing    for   them   all   the    day  : 
and  there  shall  be  nought  in  the  power  of  thine  hand. 
The   fruit  of  thy  ground,  and  all  thy  labours,  shall  a  33 
nation  which  thou  knowest  not  eat  up  ;  and  thou  shalt 
be  only  oppressed  and  crushed  alway  :  so  that  thou  shalt  34 
be  mad  for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see. 
The  Lord  shall  smite  thee  in  the  knees,  and  in  the  legs,  35 
with  a  sore  boil,  whereo/"  thou  canst  not  be  healed,  from 
Ihe  sole  of  thy  foot  unto  the  crown  of  thy  head.     The  36 
Lord  shall  bring  thee,  and  thy  king  which  thou  shalt  set 
over  thee,  unto  a  nation  which  thou  hast  not  known,  thou 
nor  thy  fathers ;  and  there  shalt  thou  serve  other  gods, 
wood  and  stone.   And  thou  shalt  become  an  astonishment,  37 
a  proverb,  and  a  byword,  among  all  the  peoples  whither 
the  Lord  shall  lead  thee  away.     [D]  Thou  shalt  carry  38 
much  seed  out  into  the  field,  and  shalt  gather  little  in  ; 
for  the  locust  shall  consume  it.     Thou  shalt  plant  vine-  39 
*  See  oh.  xx.  6,  and  Lev.  xix.  23-25. 

30.  Cf.  XX.  5-7  ;  Amos  v.  11  ;  Mic.  vi.  15  ;  Zeph.  i.  13. 

35.  Practically  a  repetition  of  verse  27,  here  an  interruption. 

36.  thy  king-  (xvii.  14)  ;  after  a  reign  of  three  months,  Jehoiachin 
was,  in  597  b.c,  carried  captive  to  Babylon,  with  10,000  others, 
by  Nebuchadrezzar  (2  Kings  xxiv.  8f.). 

other  gods :  cf.  iv.  28  (note). 
38  f.  The  general  parallelism  with  the  blessings  of  the  original 
nucleus  of  the  chapter  seems  here  to  be  resumed  (cf.  verses  8, 
II  f.).     Note  that  the  curse  rests  on  corn,  wine,  and  oil  (vii.  13) — 
the  chief  products  of  the  soil. 


200      DEUTERONOMY  28.  40-47.     D  D^  D  D^ 

yards  and  dress  them,  but  thou  shalt  neither  drink  of  the 
wine,  nor  gather  the  grapes ;  for  the  worm  shall  eat  them. 

40  Thou  shalt  have  olive  trees  throughout  all  thy  borders, 
but  thou  shalt  not  anoint  thyself  with  the  oil ;  for  thine 

41  olive  shall  cast  its  fruit.  [D^]  Thou  shalt  beget  sons  and 
daughters,  but  they  shall  not  be  thine ;  for  they  shall  go 

42  into  captivity.     [D]  All  thy  trees  and  the  fruit  of  thy 

43  ground  shall  the  locust  possess.  The  stranger  that  is  in 
the  midst  of  thee  shall  mount  up  above  thee  higher  and 

14  higher ;  and  thou  shalt  come  down  lower  and  lower.  He 
shall  lend  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt  not  lend  to  him  :   he 

45  shall  be  the  head,  and  thou  shalt  be  the  tail.  And  all  these 
curses  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  shall  pursue  thee,  and 
overtake  thee^  till  thou  be  destroyed ;  because  thou 
hearkenedst  not  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to 
keep   his   commandments   and    his   statutes   which    he 

46  commanded  thee  :  and  they  shall  be  upon  thee  for  a  sign 

47  and  for  a  wonder,  and  upon  thy  seed  for  ever :  [D^]  because 


41.  A  doublet  to  verse  32,  here  interrupting  the  description  of 
agricultural  adversity. 

42.  the  locust :  '  probably  the  creaker,  from  the  stridulous 
sound  produced  by  many  of  the  Orthoptera,  especially  the  males, 
by  rubbing  the  upper  part  of  the  leg  against  the  wing '  (Driver, 
'  Excursus  on  Locusts '  in  '  Joel  and  Amos,'  Catn.  Bible,  p.  86). 
Eight  other  names  for  '  locust '  occur  in  the  O.  T. 

43.  44.  Cf.  verses  12^,  13%  with  which  a  contrast  is  obviously 
intended. 

The  strangfer :  the  ger  (i.  16),  so  frequently  named  in  this 
book  as  dependent  on  Israel's  consideration  ;  he  will  profit  (e.  g. 
through  commerce)  by  the  barrenness  of  the  soil  in  which  he  has 
no  possession. 

45,  46.  Formal  conclusion  to  the  (original)  curses,  resuming 
verse  15. 

for  a  sign  and  for  a  wonder  :  i.  e.  recognized  as  the  divinely 
foretold  penalties  for  disobedience. 

47  f.  This  exilic  section,  pointing  the  moral  of  the  actual  mis- 
fortunes of  Israel,  describes  (a)  the  rapacity  of  the  invader  (verses 


DEUTERONOMY  28.  48-52.     D^  201 

thou  servedst  not  the  Lord  thy  God  with  joyful ness^  and 
with  gladness  of  heart,  by  reason  of  the  abundance  of  all 
things  :  therefore  shalt  thou  serve  thine  enemies  which  48 
the  Lord  shall   send  against  thee,  in   hunger,   and   in 
thirst,  and  in  nakedness,  and  in  want  of  all  things  :  and 
he  shall  put  a  yoke  of  iron  upon  thy  neck,  until  he  have 
destroyed  thee.     The  Lord  shall  bring  a  nation  against  '1 9 
thee  from  far,  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  as  the  eagle 
flieth  ;  a  nation  whose  tongue  thou  shalt  not  understand  ; 
a  nation  of  fierce  countenance,  which  shall  not  regard  the  5^ 
person  of  the  old,  nor  shew  favour  to  the  young :  and  he 
shall  eat  the  fruit  of  thy  cattle,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  f  ^ 
until  thou  be  destroyed  :  which  also  shall  not  leave  thee 
corn,  wine,  or  oil,  the  increase  of  thy  kine,  or  the  young  of 
thy  flock,  until  he  have  caused  thee  to  perish.     And  he  52 
shall  besiege  thee  in  all  thy  gates,  until  thy  high  and  fenced 
walls  come  down,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  throughout  all 
thy  land :   and  he  shall  besiege  thee  in  all  thy  gates 
throughout  all  thy  land,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 

49-51)  ;  (*)  the  horrors  of  the  subsequent  sieges  (especially  of 
Jerusalem)  (verses  52-57). 

4V.  Cf.  vi.  lof.,  viii.  11  f.  for  the  moral  perils  of  prosperity, 
with  joyfalness  :  characteristic  of  Deuteronomy  (xii.  7,  12, 
18)  and  of  the  pre-exilic  religion  of  Israel,  as  opposed  to  the  later 
development  in  the  pious  of  the  sense  of  sin,  and  of  anxious  and 
punctilious  obedience. 

48.  a  yoke  of  iron  :  Jer,  xxviii.  14  (note  the  acted  parable  of 
the  prophet,  verse  10,  perhaps  responsible  for  the  present  use  of 
the  figure). 

49.  from  far,  &c.  :  Isa.  v.  26  (Assyrians). 

as  the  eag-le  flieth  :  or,  '  as  the  vulture  (xiv.  12)  swoopeth  '  : 
Hos.  viii.  I    Assyrians)  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  40,  xlix.  22  (Chaldeans\ 

thou  Shalt  not  understand:  Isa.  xxviii.  11,  xxxiii.  19 
(Assyrians)  ;  Jer.  v.  15  (Chaldeans). 

50.  The  Chaldeans  are  described  as  stern  in  appearance, 
pitiless  in  action  (cf.  Jer,  v.  15 f.). 

52.  The  sieges  of  the  cities  ('  in  all  thy  gates  ')  throughout  the 
land  are  described. 


202  DEUTERONOMY  28.  53-57.     D' 

53  given  thee.  And  thou  shalt  eat  the  fruit  of  thine  own 
body,  the  flesh  of  thy  sons  and  of  thy  daughters  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  thee ;  in  the  siege  and  in 
the  straitness,  wherewith  thine  enemies  shall  straiten  thee. 

54  The  man  that  is  tender  among  you,  and  very  delicate,  his 
eye  shall  be  evil  toward  his  brother,  and  toward  the  wife 
of  his  bosom,  and  toward  the  remnant  of  his  children 

bo  which  he  hath  remaining  :  so  that  he  will  not  give  to  any 
of  them  of  the  flesh  of  his  children  whom  he  shall  eat, 
because  he  hath  nothing  left  him ;  in  the  siege  and  in 
the  straitness,  wherewith  thine  enemy  shall  straiten  thee 

5^  in  all  thy  gates.  The  tender  and  delicate  woman  among 
you,  which  would  not  adventure  to  set  the  sole  of  her 
foot  upon  the  ground  for  delicateness  and  tenderness, 
her  eye  shall  be  evil  toward  the  husband  of  her  bosom, 

57  and  toward  her  son,  and  toward  her  daughter ;  and 
toward  her  ^  young  one  that  cometh  out  from  between 
her  feet,  and  toward  her  children  which  she  shall  bear  ; 
for  she  shall  eat  them  for  want  of  all  things  secretly  :  in 
the  siege  and  in  the  straitness,  wherewith  thine  enemy 
*  Or,  after-birth 

53 f.  (Lev.  xxvi.  29'.  Hunger  will  brutalize  men  and  lead  to 
inhuman  conduct,  so  terrible  will  be  its  force.  For  these  results 
of  famine,  cf.  2  Kings  vi.  28  f,  (siege  of  Samaria)  ;  Lam.  iv.  10 
(siege  of  Jerusalem).  With  the  whole  verse  cf.  Jer.  xix.  9, 
a  related  passage,  and  note  the  recurrence  of  the  refrain  here,  in 
verses  55  and  57. 

54.  tender  .  . .  delicate :  Isa.  xlvii.  i  {\\\  a  different  application)  ; 
the  overthrow  of  the  habit  which  is  second  nature,  as  well  as  of 
the  claims  of  nature  itself. 

his  eye  shall  he  evil :  see  on  xv.  9  ;  he  will  grudge  to  give 
even  of  this  unnatural  food  to  those  dearest  to  him  ;  in  verse  57 
used  of  the  grudging  look  fixed  on  the  meal  itself. 

56.  would  not  adventure:  'had  not  tried'  to  walk,  but  was 
hitherto  accustomed  to  the  luxury  of  litter  or  carriage  only  (cf. 
the  similar  picture  of  degradation  in  Isa.  xlvii.  i  f.). 

57.  R.  V.  marg.  to  be  read. 


DEUTERONOMY  28.  58-64.     D=^  203 

shall    straiten    thee    in    thy   gates.     If    thou    wilt    not  58 
observe  to  do  all  the  words  of  this  law  that  are  written  in 
this  book,  that  thou  mayest  fear  this  glorious  and  fearful 
name,  the  lord  thy  god;  then  the  Lord  will  make  thy  59 
plagues  wonderful,  and  the  plagues  of  thy  seed,  even 
great  plagues,  and  of  long  continuance,  and  sore  sick- 
nesses, and  of  long  continuance.    And  he  will  bring  upon  60 
thee  again  all  the  diseases  of  Egypt,  which  thou  wast 
afraid  of;  and  they  shall  cleave  unto  thee.     Also  every  61 
sickness,  and  every  plague,  which  is  not  written  in  the 
book  of  this  law,  them  will  the  Lord  bring  upon  thee, 
until  thou  be  destroyed.     And  ye  shall  be  left  few  in  62 
number,  whereas  ye  were  as  the  stars  of  heaven  for 
multitude;  because  thou  didst  not  hearken  unto  the  voice 
of  the  Lord  thy  God.     And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  63 
as  the  Lord  rejoiced  over  you  to  do  you  good,  and  to 
multiply  you  ;  so  the  Lord  will  rejoice  over  you  to  cause 
you  to  perish,  and  to  destroy  you  ;    and  ye  shall  be 
plucked   from  off  the   land  whither   thou  goest  in   to 
possess  it.     And  the  Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  64 
peoples,  from  the  one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the 


xxviii.  58-68.  A  further  warning  against  disobedience  to  the 
written  law,  independent  of  what  has  preceded,  but  also  pre- 
supposing experience  of  the  Exile  'verse  63  f.). 

68.  the  words  of  this  law  that  are  written  in  this  book : 
of.  xvii.  18.  According  to  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  itself,  the 
law  was  not  yet  written  down  (see  xxxi.  9) ;  the  expression 
suggests  some  familiarity  with  a  code  already  written  (cf. 
verse  61). 

name:    Mic.  vi.  9  ;  Isa.  lix.  19;  Mai.  iv.  2  ;  Ps.  Ixi,  5  ;  Lev. 
xxiv.  II  ;  a  late  usage,  as  is  pointed  out  by  Bertholet. 

60.  Cf.  vii.  15. 

62.  Cf.  iv.  27,  xxvi.  5  ;  i.  10. 

63.  The  joy  of  Yahweh  in  the  destruction  of  Israel  Is  an 
unusual  trait ;  contrast  Hos.  xi.  8  f.  and  the  whole  conception  ol 
that  prophet. 


204      DEUTERONOMY  28.  65—29.  r.     D^  R^ 

other  end  of  the  earth ;  and  there  thou  shalt  serve 
other  gods,  which  thou  hast  not  known,  thou  nor  thy 
f'5  fathers,  even  wood  and  stone.  And  among  these  nations 
shalt  thou  find  no  ease,  and  there  shall  be  no  rest  for  the 
sole  of  thy  foot :  but  the  Lord  shall  give  thee  there  a 
trembling  heart,  and  failing  of  eyes,  and  pining  of  soul : 

66  and  thy  life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee  ;  and  thou 
shalt  fear  night  and  day,  and  shalt  have  none  assurance  of 

67  thy  life :  in  the  morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it 
were  even  !  and  at  even  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were 
morning  !  for  the  fear  of  thine  heart  which  thou  shalt  fear, 
and  for  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see. 

68  And  the  Lord  shall  bring  thee  into  Egypt  again  with 
ships,  by  the  way  whereof  I  said  unto  thee.  Thou  shalt 
see  it  no  more  again :  and  there  ye  shall  sell  yourselves 
unto  your  enemies  for  bondmen  and  for  bondwomen,  and 
no  man  shall  buy  you. 

29      [R°]  *  These  are  the  words  of  the  covenant  which  the 

^  [Ch.  xxviii.  69  in  Heb.] 

64.  other  gods  :  verse  36,  iv.  28  (note). 

xxviii.  65-67.  A  description  of  Israel's  life  in  exile  :  without 
a  home,  full  of  vain  regret  :  compassed  with  troubles  the 
anticipation  of  which  makes  life  itself  burdensome. 

66.  The  cause  of  these  anxieties  ;  life  hangs  by  a  thread,  as 
did  that  of  Damocles  (cf.  Job  xxiv.  22,  R.  V.  marg.). 

67.  Israel's  life  is  as  wearisome  as  that  of  Job  (vii.  4). 

68.  Israel  will  be  brought  in  slave-ships  to  Egypt,  in  spite  of 
Yahweh's  former  resolve  (xvii.  16^) ;  yet,  even  as  slaves,  men  will 
not  have  them. 

sell  yourselves:  i.e.  liberty  is  sacrificed  to  maintain  life. 

xxix.  I.  This  verse  is  rather  '  a  formal  subscription,  marking  the 
end  of  the  book'  in  its  original  form  (Moore,  E  B.,  1088  ;  Driver, 
Kuenen,  and  others),  than  the  superscription  to  chap,  xxix 
^Dillmann,  Steuernagel,  Bertholet,  Oxf.  Hex.,  and  others). 

xxix-xxx.  Exilic  Exhortations  :  fidelity  to  the  covenant  in  Moah. 
Moses  briefly  reviews  the  journey  of  Israel  from  Egypt  to  Moab. 


DEUTERONOMY  29.  2-4.     R''  D^  205 

Lord  commanded  Moses  to  make  with  the  children  of 
Israel  in  the  land  of  Moab,  beside  the  covenant  which  he 
made  with  them  in  Horeb. 

[D^]  "  And  Moses  called  unto  all  Israel,  and  said  unto  2 
them,  Ye  have  seen  all  that  the  Lord  did  before  your 
eyes  in  the  land  of  Egypt  unto  Pharaoh,  and  unto  all  his 
servants,  and  unto  all  his  land ;   the  great  ^  temptations  3 
which  thine  eyes  saw,  the  signs,  and  those  great  wonders  : 
but  the  Lord  hath  not  given  you  an  heart  to  know,  and  4 
*  [Ch.  xxix.  I  in  Heb.]  ^  See  ch.  iv.  34. 

as  an  illustration  of  the  gracious  help  of  Yahweh,  which  He  now 
covenants  to  continue  (xxix.  2-9).  Israel  now  stands  in  the 
presence  of  Yahweh  to  enter  into  this  covenant,  promised  in  the 
past,  enduring  to  all  future  time  (verses  10-15).  Let  none  turn 
from  Yahweh  thinking  to  escape  the  curse  of  disobedience  ;  the 
wrath  of  Yahweh  shall  be  manifest  to  all  in  Israel's  exile  (verses 
16-29).  Yet,  even  then,  return  from  disobedience  will  bring 
return  from  exile,  and  the  restoration  of  prosperity  (xxx.  i-io). 
Let  Israel  note  the  simplicity  and  practicability  of  the  Divine 
commandment  (verses  11-14),  and  the  issues  of  prosperity  or 
adversity  absolutely  dependent  on  obedience  or  disobedience  to  it 
(verses  15-20). 

These  two  chapters  in  their  present  position  form  a  third 
address  of  Moses,  separated  from  the  second  (central)  address  by 
the  subscription  of  xxix.  i  and  the  new  beginning  made  in  verse  2. 
Even  formally,  therefore,  they  are  supplementary  to  the  Deutero- 
nomic  Law,  nor  can  any  sufficient  reason  be  given  why  they 
should  not  have  been  included  in  the  second  address,  had  they 
belonged  to  the  original  book.  The  positive  evidence  of  the 
contents  of  the  chapters  assigns  them  to  the  period  of  exile  ;  thus 
xxix.  22  f.  dwells  on  the  spectacle  of  a  punishment  conceived  to 
have  taken  place,  and  xxx.  i-io  even  discusses  the  hope  of 
return  from  exile,  a  topic  which  would  be  psychologically  as 
improbable  here  as  in  Isa.  xl.  f.,  before  the  shadow  of  exile  fell 
on  Israel.  The  two  chapters  belong  to  the  same  class  of  literature 
as  iv.  1-4.0  (D^),  viz.  exilic  exhortations  on  the  basis  of  the  written 
and  published  law-book. 

2.  Cf.  v.  I  for  the  method  of  introducing  the  address. 

Ye :  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew  (cf.  xi.  2-7)  ;  for  the  point  of 
this  emphasis,  see  introduction  to  chap.  iv. 

3.  temptations  :  '  trials  '  or  provings  (note  on  iv.  34\ 

4.  Now,   only,   is   the   full    meaning   of  Israel's   history    clear 


2o6  DEUTERONOMY   29.  5-11.     D' 

5  eyes  to  see,  and  ears  to  hear,  unto  this  day.  And  I  have 
led  you  forty  years  in  the  wilderness :  your  clothes  are 
not  waxen  old  upon  you,  and  thy  shoe  is  not  waxen  old 

6  upon  thy  foot.  Ye  have  not  eaten  bread,  neither  have 
ye  drunk  wine  or  strong  drink  :   that  ye  might  know  that 

7  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  And  when  ye  came  unto  this 
place,  Sihon  the  king  of  Heshbon,  and  Og  the  king  of 
Bashan,  came  out  against  us  unto  battle,  and  we  smote 

8  them  :  and  we  took  their  land,  and  gave  it  for  an  inherit- 
ance unto  the  Reubenites,  and  to  the  Gadites,  and  to  the 

9  half  tribe  of  the  Manassites.  Keep  therefore  the  words 
of  this  covenant,  and  do  them,^  that  ye  may  »  prosper  in 
all  that  ye  do. 

10  Ye  stand  this  day  all  of  you  before  the  Lord  your 
God;    your  heads,  your  tribes,  your  elders,  and  your 

1 1  ofificers,  even  all  the  men  of  Israel,  your  little  ones,  your 
wives,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  in  the  midst  of  thy  camps, 

*  Or,  deal  wisely 


through  Yahweh's  revelation  of  His  purpose  and  gift  of  the  faculty 
to  understand  it. 

5.  Cf.  viii.  2  ;  Amos  ii.  lo  :  the  '  I'  refers  to  Yahweh  (verse  6) ; 
with  the  second  half  of  the  verse,  cf.  viii.  4. 

6.  The  lesson  of  dependence  on  Yahweh,  already  enforced 
in  viii.  3. 

7.  Cf.  ii,  32 f.,  iii.  if.,  12 f. 

9.  Let  Israel,  therefore,  obey  Him  on  whom  success  depends  in 
the  future,  as  it  has  in  the  past. 

prosper :   R.  V.  marg.  is   preferable  (prosperity  being  the 
result  of  the  wise  dealing). 

10.  tribes:  we  expect  a  parallel  to  *  heads  '  and  'elders,'  such 
as  'judges,'  which  is  found  in  similar  enumeration  (Joshua  viii.  33, 
xxiii.  2,  xxiv.  i)  and  should  probably  be  read  for  'tribes'  here 
(cf.  LXX;  the  similarity  of  the  two  Hebrew  words  makes  their 
interchange  easy). 

11.  thy  stranger :  the  enumeration  of  those  who  are  to  become 
bound  by  the  covenant  is  meant  to  include  all  without  excep- 
tion, even  non-Israelite  settlers  (here,  practically,  proselytes)  and 


DEUTERONOMY   29.  12-17.     D'  207 

from  the  hewer  of  thy  wood  unto  the  drawer  of  thy 
water  :  that  thou  shouldest  enter  into  the  covenant  of  the  1 2 
Lord  thy  God,  and  into  his  oath,  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  niaketh  with  thee  this  day  :    that  he  may  establish  13 
thee  this  day  unto  himself  for  a  people,  and  that  he  may 
be  unto  thee  a  God,  as  he  spake  unto  thee,  and  as  he 
sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to 
Jacob.     Neither  with  you  only  do  I  make  this  covenant  14 
and  this  oath;   but  with  him  that  standeth  here  with  us  15 
this  day  before  the  Lord  our  God,  and  also  with  him 
that  is  not  here  with  us  this  day :  (for  ye  know  how  we  16 
dwelt  in  the  land  of  Egypt ;   and  how  we  came  through 
the  midst  of  the  nations  through  which  ye  passed ;  and  r  7 
ye  have  seen  their  abominations,  and  their  idols,  wood 

temple-servants  (wood -gatherers  and  water-drawers\  Both  these 
classes,  as  here  regarded,  belong  to  a  later  period  of  the  social  life 
of  Israel  than  that  professedly  dealt  with  in  this  address  ;  for  the 
former,  cf.  i.  16,  v.  14,  &c.  ;  for  the  latter,  Joshua  ix.  21-7. 

13.  As  in  xxvi.  17,  18.  For  the  promise  to  Israel,  see  Exod. 
xix.  5  ;  the  covenant  with  the  fathers  is  named  only  by  P  (Gen. 
xvii,  7,  with  Abraham)  ;  but  compare  the  promises  cited  in  note 
on  i.  8, 

14,  15.  Israel,  present  and  future,  is  conceived  as  a  unit3' ; 
note  the  solidarity  of  the  race  for  ancient  thought,  a  conception 
remote  from  our  more  developed  ideas  of  individuality. 

16,  17.  The  connexion  with  what  preceeds  and  follows  is  not 
clear  ;  hence  the  brackets  of  R.  V.,  making  the  verses  a  parenthesis. 
But  {d)  the  present  Israel  is  addressed  as  distinguished  from  the 
future  Israel  (ye  is  emphatic  in  the  Heb.)  ;  {b)  reference  is  made 
to  Israel's  actual  experience  of  idolatry  in  Egypt  and  elsewhere ; 
(c)  the  aim  of  the  appeal  is  to  secure  present  fidelity  (verse  18). 
Israel's  past  contact  with  idolatry  is  not  to  seduce  to  a  breach  of 
the  present  covenant.  The  reference  to  the  future  is  not  resumed 
till  verse  22  ('  the  generation  to  come  '). 

16.  came  .  .  .  passed:  the  same  word  in  the  Hebrew,  the 
construction  being  like  that  of  i.  46. 

17.  abominations:  'detestable  things,'  not  the  same  word  as 
that  translated  '  abomination '  elsewhere  in  this  book  ;  frequenll3' 
of  idols  in  Jeremiah  (iv.  i)  and  Ezekiel  ^v.  ii). 

idols  :  another  contemptuous  term  is  used,  frequent  in  Ezekiel 


2o8  DEUTERONOMY   29.  18-20.     D^ 

and  stone,  silver  and  gold,  which  were  among  them  :) 

18  lest  there  should  be  among  you  man,  or  woman,  or 
family,  or  tribe,  whose  heart  turneth  away  this  day  from 
the  Lord  our  God,  to  go  to  serve  the  gods  of  those 
nations ;    lest  there  should  be  among  you  a  root  that 

19  beareth  ^  gall  and  wormwood ;  and  it  come  to  pass,  when 
he  heareth  the  words  of  this  l>  curse,  that  he  bless  himself 
in  his  heart,  saying,  I  shall  have  peace,  though  I  walk  in 
the  stubbornness  of  mine  heart,  ^  to  destroy  the  moist  with 

20  the  dry :  the  Lord  will  not  pardon  him,  but  then  the 
anger  of  the  Lord  and  his  jealousy  shall  smoke  against 
that  man,  and  all  the  curse  that  is  written  in  this  book 
shall  lie  upon  him,  and  the  Lord  shall  blot  out  his  name 

*  Heb.  rosh,  a  poisonous  herb.  •*  Or,  oath  and  so  vv.  20,  21. 

"  Or,  to  add  drunkenness  to  thirst 

(vi.  4 ;  Lev.  xxvi.  30),  which  appears  to  describe  them  as  (inanimate) 
'  cylinders.' 

among'  them :  *  with  them/  i.  e.  belonging  to  them  ;  here, 
perhaps,  a  further  touch  of  contempt. 

18.  It  is  simplest  to  begin  a  new  sentence  with  this  verse, 
supplying  'Beware'  as  is  done  by  R.  V.  in  Isa.  xxxvi.  18  ;  Job 
xxxii.  13  (so  Driver). 

a  root  that  heareth  gfall  and  wormwood :  i.  e.  poison  and 
bitterness  (xxxii.  32  ;  Amos  vi.  12  ;  Hos.  x.  4,  &c.)  in  the  con- 
sequences of  idolatry. 

19.  curse:  'oath'  as  R.  V.  marg.,  i.e.  the  binding  pledge 
given  by  Yahweh  (verse  12)  which  may  lead  the  individual  to 
think  he  may  act  with  impunity. 

to  destroy  the  moist  with  the  dry :  '  to  carry  away  watered 
with  dry '  (herbage,  as  by  the  wind),  i.  e.  all  without  distinction, 
a  proverbial  expression  {cf.  xxxii.  36)  used  here  to  express  the 
destruction  of  the  whole  community  through  the  infidelity  of  in- 
dividual members.  The  result  of  the  idolater's  self-congratulation 
is  here  stated  as  his  purpose. 

20.  will  not  pardon:  'will  not  consent  to  pardon  '  (stronger 
than  R.  v.). 

shaU  smoke :  Ps.  Ixxiv.  i,  Ixxx.  4  (R.  V.  marg.)  :  of.  Deut. 
xxxii.  22  ;  Ps.  xviii.  8  ;  Isa.  Ixv.  5. 

lie  upon  him:  as  a  wild  beast  crouching  (Gen.  xlix.  9)  ;  so 
of  sin,  Gen.  iv.  7. 


DEUTERONOMY   29.  21-27.     ^  209 

from  under  heaven.     And  the  Lord  shall  separate  him  21 
unto  evil  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  according  to  all 
the  curses  of  the  covenant  that  is  written  in  this  book  of 
the  law.    And  the  generation  to  come,  your  children  that  23 
shall  rise  up  after  you,  and  the  foreigner  that  shall  come 
from  a  far  land,  shall  say,  when  they  see  the  plagues  of 
that  land,  and  the  sicknesses  wherewith  the  Lord  hath 
made  it  sick ;   and  that  the  whole  land  thereof  is  brim-  23 
stone,  and  salt,  and  a  burning,  that  it  is  not  sown,  nor 
beareth,  nor  any  grass  groweth  therein,  like  the  overthrow 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Admah  and  Zeboiim,  which 
the  Lord  overthrew  in  his  anger,  and  in  his  wrath  :  even  24 
all  the  nations  shall  say.  Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  done 
thus  unto  this  land  ?  what  meaneth  the  heat  of  this  great 
anger?  Then  men  shall  say.  Because  they  forsook  the  25 
covenant  of  the  Lord,  the  God  of  their  fathers,  which  he 
made  with  them  when  he  brought  them  forth  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt ;   and  went  and  served  other  gods,  and  26 
worshipped  them,  gods  whom  they  knew  not,  and  whom 
he  had  not  '"^  given  unto  them  :  therefore  the  anger  of  the  27 
»  Heb.  divided. 

22  f.  The  effect  of  idolatry  on  the  future  of  the  nation,  as  dis- 
played both  to  Israelites  and  non-Israelites.  (The  exiles  traced 
their  calamities  to  the  sins  of  the  fathers  :  cf.  Ezek.  xviii.  2 ;  Isa. 
xl.  2). 

23.  The  land  itself  shares  in  the  fortunes  of  the  people  ;  con- 
trast Ezek.  xlvii.  7  f.,  where  the  stream  from  the  sanctuary  fertilizes 
the  desert  and  sweetens  the  Dead  Sea.  Here  the  natural  character 
of  the  Dead  Sea  district  is  extended  in  thought  to  the  whole  land, 
and  regarded  as  its  '  sickness.' 

like  the  overthrow,  &c. :   cf.  Gen.  xix.  24  f.,  and  for  the 
vicinity  of  Admah  and  Zeboiim,  Gen.  xiv.  2  (cf.  Hos.  xi.  8). 

24  f.  Probably  dependent  on  Jer.  xxii.  8  f.  ;  as  is  verse  28  on 
Jer.  xxi.  5.  xxiv.  6.  xxxii.  37. 

29.  The  hidden  future  is  Yahweh's,  the  known  past,  with  its 
lesson  of  obedience  to  the  law,  is  ours.  Revelation  is  here  re- 
garded as  historical  rather  than  canonical. 


2IO         DEUTERONOMY    29.   28—30.  5.     D' 

Lord  was  kindled  against  this  land,  to  bring  upon  it  all 

28  the  curse  that  is  written  in  this  book :  and  the  Lord 
rooted  them  out  of  their  land  in  anger,  and  in  wrath,  and 
in  great  indignation,  and  cast  them  into  another  land,  as 

29  at  this  day.  The  secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord 
our  God :  but  the  things  that  are  revealed  belong  unto 
us  and  to  our  children  for  ever,  that  we  may  do  all  the 
words  of  this  law. 

30  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  all  these  things  are 
come  upon  thee,  the  blessing  and  the  curse,  which  I  have 
set  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call  them  to  mind  among 
all  the  nations,  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  driven 

2  thee,  and  shalt  return  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shalt 
obey  his  voice  according  to  all  that  I  command  thee  this 
day,  thou  and  thy  children,  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with 

3  all  thy  soul ;  that  then  the  Lord  thy  God  will  ^  turn  thy 
captivity,  and  have  compassion  upon  thee,  and  will 
return  and  gather  thee  from  all  the  peoples^  whither  the 

4  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If  any  <?/"  thine  out- 
casts be  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  heaven,  from  thence 
will  the  Lord  thy  God  gather  thee,  and  from  thence  will 

5  he  fetch  thee  :  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring  thee  into 
the  land  which  thy  fathers  possessed,  and  thou  shalt 

*  Or,  return  to 


XXX.  I- 10.  This  section  gives  a  fuller  statement  of  iv.  29-31 ;  if 
Yahweh  is  sought  by  exiled  Israel,  He  will  be  found. 

1.  the  blessing-  and  the  curse:  i.  e.  those  of  chap,  xxviii :  cf. 
xi.  26. 

3.  tnrn  thy  captivity:  '  change  thy  fortunes,'  verb  and  noun 
being  cognate  in  the  Hebrew  {lit.  'turn  a  turning');  Job  xlii.  lo 
shows  that  the  older  rendering  is  unsuitable,  though  it  is  retained 
even  there  by  R.  V.  The  phrase  occurs  frequently  (Amos  ix.  14 ; 
Jer.  xxix.  14,  &c.). 

4.  Nehemiah's  prayer  (Neh.  i.  9)  makes  this  passage  its  ground 
of  appeal. 


DEUTERONOMY  30.  C-ii.     D^  211 

possess  it ;   and  he  will  do  thee  good,  and  multiply  thee 
above  thy  fathers.     And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  circum-  6 
cise  thine  heart,  and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
that  thou  mayest  live.     And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  put  7 
all  these  curses  upon  thine  enemies,  and  on  them  that 
hate  thee,  which  persecuted  thee.    And  thou  shalt  return  8 
and  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  and  do  all  his  command- 
ments which  I  command  thee  this  day.     And  the  Lord  9 
thy  God  will  make  thee  plenteous  in  all  the  work  of 
thine  hand,  in  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  in  the  fruit  of 
thy  cattle,  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  for  good  :   for 
the  Lord  will  again  rejoice  over  thee  for  good,  as  he 
rejoiced  over  thy  fathers  :   if  thou  shalt  obey  the  voice  of  ic 
the  Lord  thy  God,  to  keep  his  commandments  and  his 
statutes  which  are  written  in  this  book  of  the  law;  if  thou 
turn  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul. 

For  this  commandment  which  I  command  thee  this  n 

6.  circumcise  thine  heart :  x.  16  (note).  One  lesson  of  the 
Exile  was  the  need  of  divine  help  for  the  fulfilment  of  obedience  : 
cf.  Ezekiel's  promises  of  supernatural  aid,  not  only  to  restore  the 
nation  to  existence  (xxxvii.  i  f.)  but  to  enable  it  to  fulfil  its  spiritual 
ideal  (xi.  19,  xxxvi.  26  f.)  ;  note  also  the  conception  of  the  new 
covenant  in  Jer.  xxxi.  31  f. 

that  thou  mayest  live  :  *  for  thy  life's  sake '  (different  in 
form  from  the  phrase  in  verse  19),  to  be  interpreted  of  the  full 
prosperity  of  verse  9  f 

*7.  all  these  curses :  xxlx,  19  f.  (cf.  xxviii.  15  f.  where  a  different 
word  is  used). 

8.  thou :  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew. 

XXX.  11-14.  These  verses  can  hardly  be  connected  with  those 
of  the  previous  section,  since  they  refer  to  present  issues,  not  the 
future  possibility  of  return  after  penitence.  With  verses  15-20 
they  form  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  exhortations  of  this  book. 

11.  this  commandmeut  (xi,  22,xix.  9) :  the  principle  of  devotion 
to  Yahweh  which  underlies  and  is  expressed  in  the  Deutero- 
uomic  law. 

P   2 


212  DEUTERONOMY  30.  12-18.     D' 

12  day,  it  is  not  too  ^  hard  for  thee,  neither  is  it  far  off.  It 
is  not  in  heaven,  that  thou  shouldest  say,  Who  shall  go 
up  for  us  to  heaven,  and  bring  it  unto  us,  and  make  us  to 

13  hear  it,  that  we  may  do  it  ?  Neither  is  it  beyond  the  sea, 
that  thou  shouldest  say,  Who  shall  go  over  the  sea  for  us, 
and  bring  it  unto  us,  and  make  us  to  hear  it,  that  we  may 

r  4  do  it  ?  But  the  word  is  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth, 
and  in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayest  do  it. 

15  See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and 

1 6  death  and  evil ;  in  that  I  command  thee  this  day  to  love 
the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his 
commandments  and  his  statutes  and  his  judgements,  that 
thou  mayest  live  and  multiply,  and  that  the  Lord  thy 
God  may  bless  thee  in  the  land  whither  thou  goest  in  to 

17  possess  it.  But  if  thine  heart  turn  away,  and  thou  wilt 
not  hear,  but  shalt  be  drawn  away,  and  worship  other 

1 8  gods,  and  serve  them ;  I  denounce  unto  you  this  day, 
that  ye  shall  surely  perish ;  ye  shall  not  prolong  your 
days  upon  the  land,  whither  thou  passest  over  Jordan  to 

*  Or,  wonderful 

hard  :  i.  e.  to  understand  (xvii.  8  ;  Gen.  xviii.  14  ;  Jer.  xxxii. 
17,  27). 

far  off:  and  so  lying  outside  the  sphere  of  ordinary  life,  in 
heaven  or  beyond  the  sea  (verses  12,  13). 

14.  It  can  enter  into  ordinary  thought  (vi.  6,  xi.  18)  and  con- 
versation (vi.  7,  xi.  ig). 

XXX.  15-20.  The  final  issues  of  prosperity  and  adversity 
(a  practical  application  of  chap,  xxviii). 

15.  Cf.  Jer.  xxi.  8,  where,  as  here,  the  issues  are  not  primarily 
spiritual  but  literal  life  or  death,  as  the  '  good  '  and  *  evil '  denote 
simply  prosperity  and  adversity. 

16.  Most  commentators  supply  a  clause  from  the  LXX  at  the 
beginning  of  this  verse,  which  the  Hebrew  requires,  viz.  (If  thou 
shalt  hearken  to  the  commandment  of  Yahweh  thy  God)  which 
I  command  &c. .  .  .  then  thou  shalt  live  and  multiply,  and  Yahweh 
thy  God  shall  bless  thee. 

18.  denounce:  'declare'  (xxvi.  3,  R.  V.  'profess'). 


DEUTERONOMY  30.  19— 31.  2.     D^  D^      213 

go  in  to  possess  it.  I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  19 
against  you  this  day,  that  I  have  set  before  thee  life  and 
death,  the  blessing  and  the  curse  :  therefore  choose  life, 
that  thou  mayest  live,  thou  and  thy  seed :  to  love  the  20 
Lord  thy  God,  to  obey  his  voice,  and  to  cleave  unto 
him  :  for  ^  he  is  thy  life,  and  the  length  of  thy  days  :  that 
thou  mayest  dwell  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware 
unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  to 
give  them. 

[D^]  And  Moses  went  and  spake  these  words  unto  all  31 
Israel.     And  he  said  unto  them,  I  am  an  hundred  and  2 
twenty  years  old  this  day;    I  can  no  more  go  out  and 
come  in  :   and  the  Lord  hath  said  unto  me,  Thou  shalt 
*0r,  that 

19.  As  iv.  26  (note). 

20.  he  is  thy  life :  not,  of  course,  in  the  m3'Stical  sense  of 
Col.  iii.  3,  Gal.  ii.  20,  but  because  Yahvveh  gives  long  life  to  the 
obedient. 

xxxi-xxxiv.  In  the  present  form  of  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy 
these  chapters  constitute  an  appendix,  narrating  events  connected 
with  the  close  of  the  life  of  Moses,  and  incorporating  two  poems 
ascribed  to  him.  Literary  analysis,  however,  shows  that  they 
belong  in  part  to  the  principal  documents  of  the  Hexateuch 
(J,  E,  P),  and  continue  its  narrative  from  the  earlier  books  to  the 
Book  of  Joshua. 

xxxi.  18  Moses  announces  to  Israel  the  approaching  close  of 
his  leadership,  and  speaks  of  a  successful  future  under  Joshua. 
He  urges  Joshua  to  have  courage  and  to  trust  in  Yahweh.  For  the 
connexion  of  this  paragraph  with  chaps,  i-iii,  cf.  i.  37  f.,  iii.  21  f., 
28,  as  well  as  the  phraseology  in  general. 

1.  went  and  spake  these  words :  by  Hebrew  usage  this  will 
refer  to  something  spoken  to  Moses  that  has  preceded  ;  the 
present  passage  was  probably  the  conclusion  of  chap,  iii,  not  of 
chaps,  xxix,  xxx  (so  Dillmann  and  Driver).  Others  prefer  to  read 
with  LXX  'finished  speaking'  (Bertholet  and  Steuernagel). 

2.  Cf.  xxxiv.  7  (P),  where  the  vigour  of  Moses  is  represented 
as  still  unfailing  ;  for  gfo  out  and  come  in,  see  on  xxviii.  6, 

Yahweh  hath  said :  as  in  iii.  27,  which  confirms  the  view  of 
the  connexion  stated  above. 


2  14  DEUTERONOMY  31.  3-9.     D^  D 

T)  not  go  over  this  Jordan.  The  Lord  thy  God,  he  will 
go  over  before  thee  ;  he  will  destroy  these  nations  from 
before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  possess  them  :  and  Joshua,  he 
shall  go  over  before  thee,  as  the  Lord  hath  spoken. 

4  And  the  Lord  shall  do  unto  them  as  he  did  to  Sihon 
and  to  Og,  the  kings  of  the  Amorites,  and  unto  their 

5  land  ;  whom  he  destroyed.  And  the  Lord  shall  deliver 
them  up  before  you,  and  ye  shall  do  unto  them  according 
unto  all  the  commandment  which  I  have  commanded 

6  you.  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage,  fear  not,  nor  be 
affrighted  at  them  :  for  the  Lord  thy  God,  he  it  is  that 
doth  go  with  thee  ;  he  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee. 

7  And  Moses  called  unto  Joshua,  and  said  unto  him  in  the 
sight  of  all  Israel,  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage  :  for 
thou  shalt  go  with  this  people  into  the  land  which  the 
Lord  hath  sworn  unto  their  fathers  to  give  them ;   and 

8  thou  shalt  cause  them  to  inherit  it.  And  the  Lord,  he 
it  is  that  doth  go  before  thee ;  he  will  be  with  thee,  he 
will  not  fail  thee,  neither  forsake  thee  :  fear  not,  neither 
be  dismayed. 

9  [D]  And  Moses  wrote  this  law,  and  delivered  it  unto 

3.  Joshua,  &c.  :  as  in  iii.  28. 

4.  to  Sihon  and  to  Ogr :  ii.  32  f.,  iii.  i  f. 

5.  the  commandment :  viz.  that  of  vii.  i  f. 

6.  fail  thee :  Heb.  '  let  thee  fall '  as  in  iv.  31  :  so  in  verse  8. 
*I,  Be  strong"  and  of  a  g'ood  courag'e :  cf.  iii.  28,  from  which 

the  verbs  are  repeated. 

gfo  with :  probably  we  should  read  '  bring '  as  in  verse  23 
(so  Sam,,  Pesh.,  Vulg.). 

cause  them  to  inherit  it :  as  in  iii.  28. 

xxxi.  9-13.  The  law,  written  and  delivered  by  Moses  to  the 
priests  and  elders,  is  to  be  read  to  all  Israel  once  every  seven 
years. 

This  paragraph  finds  its  most  natural  explanation  as  belonging 
to  the  original  Deuteronomy,  for  whose  regular  promulgation  it 
provides. 


DEUTERONOMY  31.  10-14.     D  JE  215 

the  priests  the  sons  of  Levi,  which  bare  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  unto  all  the  elders  of  Israel. 
And  Moses  commanded  them,  saying,  At  the  end  of  10 
every  seven  years,  in  the  set  time  of  the  year  of  release,  in 
the  feast  of  tabernacles,  when  all  Israel  is  come  to  appear  n 
before  the  Lord  thy  God  in  the  place  which  he  shall 
choose,  thou  shalt  read  this  law  before  all  Israel  in  their 
hearing.     Assemble  the  people,  the  men  and  the  women  12 
and  the  little  ones,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates,  that  they  may  hear,  and  that  they  may  learn,  and 
fear  the  Lord  your  God,  and  observe  to  do  all  the  words 
of  this  law;    and  that  their  children,  which  have  not  13 
known,  may  hear,  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  your  God, 
as  long  as  ye  live  in  the  land  whither  ye  go  over  Jordan 
to  possess  it. 

[  JE]  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Behold,  thy  days  14 

9.  priests  .  . .  elders :  the  representatives  of  sacred  and  secular 
authority  (xviii.  i,  i.  15). 

10.  the  year  of  release  :  xv.  i. 

the  feast  of  tabernacles  :  xvi.  13-15. 

11.  to  appear  before  :  see  on  xvi.  16. 

12.  Cf.  xxix.  II  ;  and  note  in  verse  13  the  characteristic 
emphasis  on  the  religious  education  of  children  (iv.  9,  vi.  7,  20-5, 
xi.  19,  xxxii.  46).  According  to  the  later  Jewish  usage,  a  selection 
only  of  passages  from  Deuteronomy  was  read. 

xxxi.  14,  15,  23  (ascribed  to  JE  on  linguistic  grounds)  narrate 
that,  at  Yahweh's  bidding,  Moses  and  Joshua  appear  before  Him 
for  the  transference  of  leadership.  Yahweh  bids  Joshua  be  brave, 
and  promises  His  help.  For  Fs  account  of  the  appointment  of 
Joshua,  see  Num.  xxvii.  22-3. 

xxxi.  16-22  represent  Yahweh  as  foretelling  to  Moses  the 
course  of  events  after  his  death.  Israel  will  break  the  covenant 
with  Yahweh  (verse  16),  so  arousing  His  anger,  and  bringing 
trouble  on  the  nation  (verses  17,  18).  When  the  prosperity  that 
has  beguiled  has  given  place  to  the  adversity  that  will  punish 
(verses  20,  21),  'this  song'  will  state  Yahweh's  claims  (verses 
19,  21*).  Moses  accordingly  writes  down  and  teaches  the  song  to 
Israel  as  bidden  (verse  22). 


2i6         DEUTERONOMY  31.  15-18.     JE  R? 

approach  that  thou  must  die :  call  Joshua,  and  present 
yourselves  in  the  tent  of  meeting,  that  I  may  give  him  a 
charge.  And  Moses  and  Joshua  went,  and  presented 
ig  themselves  in  the  tent  of  meeting.  And  the  Lord 
appeared  in  the  Tent  in  a  pillar  of  cloud  :  and  the  pillar 

16  of  cloud  stood  ''^  over,  the  door  of  the  Tent.  [R?]  And 
the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Behold,  thou  shalt  sleep  with 
thy  fathers;  and  this  people  will  rise  up,  and  go  a 
whoring  after  the  strange  gods  of  the  land,  whither  they 
go  to  be  among  them,  and  will  forsake  me,  and  break 

1 7  my  covenant  which  I  have  made  with  them.  Then  my 
anger  shall  be  kindled  against  them  in  that  day,  and  I 
will  forsake  them,  and  I  will  hide  my  face  from 
them,  and  they  shall  be  devoured,  and  many  evils  and 
troubles  shall  come  upon  them ;  so  that  they  will  say  in 
that  day,   Are  not  these  evils   come  upon  us  because 

J 8  our  God  is  not  among  us?  And  I  will  surely  hide  my 
face   in    that    day   for    all    the   evil   which   they   shall 
*  Or,  by 

14.  tlie  tent  of  meetingr:  i.e.  where  Yahweh  meets  with 
Moses  (Exod.  xxix.  42,  P :  cf.  Exod.  xxxiii,  7,  E). 

^ve  Mm  a  charg'e  :  Heb.  '  command  him  '  (iii.  28\ 

15.  in  a  pillar  of  cloud :  Num.  xii.  5  ;  Exod.  xxxiii.  9  (both 
JE).     For  continuation,  see  verse  23. 

16.  sleep  with  thy  fathers :  cf.  Gen.  xlvii.  30,  where  both  the 
usage  and  the  origin  (family-grave)  of  the  phrase  are  ilhistrated. 

g-o  a  whoring :  Exod.  xxxiv.  i6 ;  Ezek.  vi.  9,  &c.  ;  the 
original  force  of  the  phrase  was  probably  literal,  not  figurative,  in 
view  of  the  frequency  of  prostitution  in  the  service  of  heathen 
deities  (see  on  xxiii.  17,  18). 

to  be  among  them  :  Heb.  '  in  its  midst '  (i.  e.  the  '  strange 
gods '  are  in  the  midst  of  the  people,  Joshua  xxiv.  23) ;  the 
awkwardness  of  the  sentence,  it  has  been  conjectured,  is  due  to 
the  interpolated  '  of  the  land  whither  they  go.' 

17.  our  God  is  not  among  us:  Heb.  'my  God  is  not  in  my 
midst'  :  contrast  Isa.  xii.  6;  Zeph.  iii.  17.  Israel's  problems  of 
providence  were  concerned  not  with  the  existence,  but  with  the 
activity  of  God. 


DEUTERONOMY  31.  19-24.     R?  JE  D^      217 

have  wrought,  in  that  they  are  turned  unto  other  gods. 
Now  therefore  write  ye  this  song  for  you,  and  teach  thou  19 
it  the  children  of  Israel :  put  it  in  their  mouths,  that  this 
song  may  be  a  witness  for  me  against  the  children  of 
Israel.     For  when  I  shall  have  brought  them  into  the  20 
land  which  I  sware  unto  their  fathers,  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey ;  and  they  shall  have  eaten  and  filled  them- 
selves, and  waxen  fat ;   then  will  they  turn  unto  other 
gods,  and  serve  them,  and  despise  me,  and  break  my 
covenant.     And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  many  evils  ai 
and  troubles  are  come  upon  them,  that  this  song  shall 
testify  before  them   as  a  witness;   for   it  shall   not  be 
forgotten  out  of  the  mouths  of  their  seed :   for  I  know 
their  imagination  which  they  go  about,  even  now,  before 
I  have  brought  them  into  the  land  which  I  sware.     So  22 
Moses  wrote  this  song  the  same  day,  and  taught  it  the 
children  of  Israel.     [JE]  And  he  gave  Joshua  the  son  of  23 
Nun  a  charge,  and  said,  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage  : 
for  thou  shalt  bring  the  children  of  Israel  into  the  land 
which  I  sware  unto  them  :  and  I  will  be  with  thee. 

[D'']  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Moses  had  made  an  24 
end  of  writing  the  words  of  this  law  in  a  book,  until  they 


19.  write  ye :  viz.  Moses  and  Joshua  (xxxii.  44). 

21.  g-o  about:  Heb.  '  make'  ;  already  the  germs  of  apostasy 
are  visible  to  Yahweh.  Add  *  to  their  (its)  fathers'  to  'sware' 
(with  Sam.,  LXX). 

23.  This  continues  verse  15 ;  its  subject  will  then  be,  not 
Moses,  but  Yahweh. 

xxxi.  24-9.  Moses  hands  the  written  law  to  the  Levites,  whom 
he  commands  to  place  it  by  the  ark  (verses  24-6).  He  addresses 
Israel,  and  warns  against  apostasy  and  its  punishment  (verses  27-9). 

xxxi.  24-6  form  a  doublet  to  verses  9  f.  The  connexion  with 
verses  27-9  and  of  this  with  what  follows  is  obscure  Moses, 
who  is  addressing  the  Levites  in  verse  26,  seems  to  pass  without 
explanation  to  address  Israel. 


2i8      DEUTERONOMY  31.  25—32  i.     D»  R? 

25  were  finished,  that  Moses  commanded  the  Levites,  which 

26  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  saying,  Take 
this  book  of  the  law,  and  put  it  by  the  side  of  the  ark  of 
the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there 

27  for  a  witness  against  thee.  For  I  know  thy  rebellion,  and 
thy  stiff  neck  :  behold,  while  I  am  yet  alive  with  you  this 
day,  ye  have  been  rebellious  against  the  Lord  ;  and  how 

28  much  more  after  my  death?  Assemble  unto  me  all  the 
elders  of  your  tribes,  and  your  officers,  that  I  may  speak 
these  words  in  their  ears,  and  call  heaven  and  earth  to 

^9  witness  against  them.  For  I  know  that  after  my  death 
ye  will  utterly  corrupt  yourselves,  and  turn  aside  from  the 
way  which  I  have  commanded  you ;  and  evil  will  befall 
you  in  the  latter  days ;  because  ye  will  do  that  which  is 
evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  to  provoke  him  to  anger 
through  the  work  of  your  hands. 

30  [r  ?]  And  Moses  spake  in  the  ears  of  all  the  assembly 
of  Israel  the  words  of  this  song,  until  they  were  finished. 

32  Give  ear,  ye  heavens,  and  I  will  speak ; 

And  let  the  earth  hear  the  words  of  my  mouth  : 

25.  the  Iievites  :  cf.  x.  8,  and  verse  9. 
2*7.  '  I '  in  the  Hebrew  is  emphatic. 

28.  these  words :  in  the  present  context,  the  reference  must 
be  to  the  Song.  Bertholet  and  Steuernagel,  following  Staerk, 
think  that  '  the  law  '  has  displaced  <  the  song '  in  this  section. 

call  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  :  cf.  xxx.  19.  which  would 
be  the  invocation  in  question  if  (as  Dillmann  and  others  have 
thought)  chaps,  xxix,  xxx  formed  the  address  to  which  this  is 
the  preface  ;  see  also  iv.  26  (note"). 

29.  corrupt  yourselves  :  Heb.  '  do  corruptly,'  cf.  iv.  25. 

in  the  latter  days :  Heb.  '  in  the  end  of  the  days '  (iv.  30 
note). 

to  anger :  omit. 

xxxi.  30,  Introductory  note  in  continuation  of  verses  16-22,  by 
the  redactor  who  incorporated  the  song  in  the  narrative. 

the  assembly  of  Israel :  (v.  22  ;  Joshua  viii.  35)  which  has 
been  gathered  for  the  purpose  (xxxi.  28). 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  i.     R?  219 

xxxii.  1-43.  The  Song  of  Moses.  The  ascription  of  this  poem 
to  Moses  depends  solely  on  the  redactor  (xxxi.  19,  22,  30,  xxxii.  44) 
who  incorporated  it  in  the  text,  and  is  without  any  internal 
support  from  the  poem  itself.  On  the  contrary,  the  reference  in 
verses  7  f.  to  the  Exodus  and  Settlement  as  events  of  a  long 
remote  past  proves,  what  the  religious  outlook  and  literary 
form  of  the  poem  confirm,  that  it  belongs  to  an  age  much  later 
than  the  Mosaic.  There  has  naturally  been  much  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  precise  period  of  its  composition,  because  it 
does  not  contain  any  very  definite  historical  references.  But 
the  general  situation  presupposed  is  clear  ;  Israel  has  suffered 
great  disasters  (verses  22-5),  and  defeat  in  battle  (verse  30),  and 
is  at  the  mercy  of  its  enemj'  (verse  36)  ;  its  one  hope  is  represented 
as  the  speedy  intervention  of  Yahweh  to  save  it  from  the  '  no- 
people'  (verse  21),  into  whose  hand  Yahweh  has  seen  fit  to 
deliver  it.  Who  are  the  '  no-people  '?  Some,  e.g.  Dillmann  (p.  393) 
have  answered,  '  The  Syrians,'  and  assigned  the  poem  to  the  time 
of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  when  Israel  was  crushed  by  Benhadad  and 
Hazael  (i  Kings  xx.  i  f.,  xxii.  34  f.  ;  2  Kings  v.  2,  vi.  8,  24  f.,  ix. 
14  f.,  x.  32  f.,  xiii.  7),  i.  e.  to  the  ninth  century  b.  c.  Others,  e.  g. 
Ewald,  have  identified  the  '  no-people  *  with  the  Assyrians,  and 
have  placed  the  poem  in  the  eighth  century,  shortly  before  the 
fall  of  Samaria  (722  B.C.).  There  remains  the  relation  of  Israel 
to  the  Chaldeans  as  a  possible  background  to  the  poem.  Kuenen 
{Hex.  §§  13  n.  30)  argues  for  a  Judaean  contemporary  of  Jeremiah 
as  its  author,  and  places  the  Song  about  630  b.  c.  or  a  generation 
later.  He  relies  on  such  parallels  as  Jer.  v.  15,  16,  vi,  22,  23 ; 
Hab.  i.  6  f.,  to  prove  that  the  *  no-people  '  are  the  Chaldeans. 
Driver,  in  accepting  this  view,  emphasizes  the  agreement  in 
thought  and  attitude  with  the  prophets  of  the  Chaldean  age, 
Jeremiah,  Ezekiel  (Jer.  ii.  4-28;  Ezek.  xvi,  xx).  Steuernagel, 
whilst  admitting  (p.  114)  that  the  lack  of  specific  reference  to  the 
Exile,  and  the  numerous  points  of  contact  with  Jeremiah  are  in 
favour  of  a  date  shortly  before  the  Exile,  decides  for  the  latter  part 
of  the  Exile  itself  because  of  the  expectation  of  a  speedy  over- 
throw of  the  (Chaldean^,  power,  and  the  agreement  with  Ezekiel 
and  Isaiah  xl  f.  With  this  agree  Bertholet  (p.  95),  Moore  {EM,, 
1089%  and  i\\&  Oxford  Hexateuch  (i.  162).  It  seems  probable  that 
the  last-named  view  is  correct,  especially  in  the  light  of  the  agree- 
ment of  the  general  outlook  of  the  poem  with  Isa.  xl.  f.,  the  great 
prophecy  of  the  exile. 

The  subject  of  the  poem  is  the  vindication  of  the  ways  of 
Yahweh  as  revealed  in  the  history  of  Israel  (verse  4),  and  the 
criticism  of  Israel  itself  as  a  senseless  and  ungrateful  people 
(verses  5,  6)  ;  Yahweh's  faithfulness  and  Israel's  unfaithfulness 
are  the  factors  of  the  problem  of  Israel's  present  adversity,  to 
which  the  writer  seeks  to  bring  the  prophetic  comfort  of  rcvivirg 


2  20  DEUTERONOMY  32.  2.     R? 

My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain, 
My  speech  shall  distil  as  the  dew ; 

hope  (verses  1-3")  in  Yahweh's  approaching  intervention.  The 
poet  reviews  the  ancient  story  of  Israel's  adoption  by  Yahweh  in 
the  desert,  and  of  His  fatherly  care  for  the  infant  nation,  until  He 
brought  it  into  the  prosperous  land  of  Canaan  to  be  His  own 
people  (verses  7-14).  But  Israel's  consequent  prosperity  issued 
in  the  abandonment  of  the  worship  of  Yahweh  for  other  religions, 
with  no  deep  root  in  Israel's  past  history  (verses  15-18).  It  was 
this  ingratitude  that  caused  Yahweh  to  turn  from  Israel  and  to 
deliver  them  to  a  *  no-people '  (verses  19-21 ) ;  and  the  poet 
recounts  the  plagues  of  hunger,  pestilence,  wild  beasts,  and  war, 
in  which  Yahweh's  vexation  finds  expression  (verses  22-5). 
Indeed,  it  is  but  the  thought  of  the  enemy's  self-congratulation 
that  restrains  Him  from  the  annihilation  of  Israel  (verses  26,  27). 
The  poet  dwells  on  the  stupidity  of  Israelites  who  cannot  interpret 
disaster  as  the  result  of  Yahweh's  withdrawal,  not  of  His  defeat 
(verses  28-30).  The  heathen  gods  are  impotent  before  Yahweh  ; 
the  heathen  foe  corrupt  (verses  31-3).  For  them  also  pun- 
ishment in  the  near  future  is  being  prepared  (verses  34,  35). 
The  utter  helplessness  of  Israel  in  their  hands  hastens  the  inter- 
vention of  Yahweh  (verse  36).  How  helpless  are  the  heathen 
gods  against  Him  !  (verses  37-9).  He  has  sworn  to  take  a  bloody 
vengeance  on  His  foes  (verses  40-2).  Let  other  nations,  then, 
greet  with  ringing  cries  the  recovered  fortunes  of  Israel  (verse  43). 
The  poem  consequently  falls  into  four  principal  parts,  viz.  (a)  the 
subject  stated  (verses  1-6),  {b)  the  providence  of  Yahweh  re- 
viewed (verses  7-14),  (c)  the  ingratitude  and  punishment  of  Israel 
(verses  15-27),  {d)  the  declaration  of  Yahweh's  purpose  lo  inter- 
vene and  save  (verses  28-43). 

xxxii.  1-3.  Introduction :  solemn  appeal  to  the  universe  for 
attention,  in  view  of  the  greatness  of  Yahweh  to  be  proclaimed. 

1.  ye  heavens  .  .  .  the  earth :  not,  as  in  xxxi.  28,  an  appeal  to 
witnesses,  but  a  poet-prophet's  expression  of  the  importance  of 
his  subject  (Isa.  i.  2). 

2.  doctrine :  i.  e.  *  teaching ' ;  the  Hebrew  word  is  character- 
istic of  the  Wisdom-literature,  to  which  this  didactic  poem  is 
related.  The  truths  learnt  by  the  poet  shall  refresh  the  hearts 
of  Israelites,  as  the  rain  and  dew  falling  on  thirsty  herbage  (Isa. 
Iv.  10  f.  ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  6) ;  the  poem  is,  therefore,  to  be  not  of 
warning  (as  interpreted  by  the  redactor,  xxxi.  i6  f.),  but  chiefly 
of  comfort,  and  to  awaken  the  new  life  of  hope  and  trust.  The 
verbs  are  best  rendered  as  expressing  a  wish  :  '  Let  my  teaching 
drop,  let  my  speech  distil.' 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  3-6.     R?  221 

As  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  grass, 

And  as  the  showers  upon  the  herb : 

For  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  :  3 

Ascribe  ye  greatness  unto  our  God. 

The  Rock,  his  work  is  perfect ;  4 

For  all  his  ways  are  judgement : 

A  God  of  faithfulness  and  without  iniquity, 

Just  and  right  is  he. 

They  have  ^  dealt  corruptly  with  him,  //ley  are  not  5 

his  children,  ^'/V/V  their  blemish; 

They  are  a  perverse  and  crooked  generation. 

Do  ye  thus  requite  the  Lord,  6 

O  foolish  people  and  unwise  ? 

Is  not  he  thy  father  that  hath  c  bought  thee  ? 

He  hath  made  thee,  and  established  thee. 

Or,  corrupted  themselves,  they  &c.  ^  Or,  but  «  blot  upon  them 

*'  Or,  possessed    Or,  gotten 

3.  the  name :  i.  e.  the  character  of  Yahweh  is  to  be  traced  in 
His  dealings  with  Israel  and  so  vindicated ;  let  Israel  respond 
with  an  acknowledgement  of  His  greatness  (Ps.  xxix.  i  f.). 

xxxii.  4-6.  The  poet's  central  thought :  the  contrast  between 
Yahweh'^s  righteous  fidelity  and  Israel's  senseless  infidelity. 

4.  The  Rock:  (verses  15,  18,  30,  31,  37),  as  in  the  Psalms 
(xviii.  2,  &c.)  and  elsewhere,  a  name  of  Yahweh  which  empha- 
sizes His  sure  and  unchanging  support,  as  the  foundation  of 
Israel's  life. 

5.  Israel,  not  Yahweh,  has  been  faithless.  The  Hebrew  is 
*  He  has  done  corruptly  to  him,  not  his  sons,  their  blemish,' 
which  is  evidently  in  disorder,  nor  do  the  versions  enable  us  to 
restore  the  original  text. 

6.  *  Is  it  with  Yahweh  ye  so  deal  ? '  children  (verse  5")  with 
a  father  ? 

bonerht  thee:  rather  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.  (2)  'gotten  '),  'begotten* 
(^Gen.  iv.  i,  R.  V.  marg.),  in  continuance  of  the  figure  of  father- 
hood, with  reference  to  the  Divine  acts  which  have  called  Israel 
into  being  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.  of  Gen.  xiv.  22  ;  Ps.  cxxxix.  13  ;  Prov. 
viii.  22) ;  He  (emphatic)  hath  made  thee,  though  thy  senseless 
ignorance  has  lost  sight  of  this  fundamental  relationship. 


222  DEUTERONOMY  32.  7-ic.     R? 

Remember  the  days  of  old, 

Consider  the  years  of  many  generations  : 

Ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew  thee ; 

Thine  elders,  and  they  will  tell  thee. 

When  the  Most  High  gave  to   the  nations    their 

inheritance, 
When  he  separated  the  children  of  men. 
He  set  the  bounds  of  the  peoples 
According  to  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
For  the  Lord's  portion  is  his  people ; 
Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  inheritance. 
He  found  him  in  a  desert  land, 
And  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness ; 
He  compassed  him  about,  he  cared  for  him, 

xxxii.  7-14.  The  story  of  IsraeFs  birth,  and  of  Yahweh^s  paternal 
care  and  provision  for  His  child. 

*7.  of  many  generations:  Heb.  of  *  generation  and  generation,' 
implying  that  the  early  history  of  Israel,  the  Exodus  and  entrance 
into  Canaan,  lie  in  the  long  remote  past,  for  the  writer  of  the 
poem.  The  verse  is,  of  course,  conclusive  against  Mosaic  author- 
ship. 

8,  9.  The  fathers  and  elders,  as  depositaries  of  ancient  tradition, 
reply  that  Yahweh  left  a  sufficient  territory  for  '  the  sons  of  Israel,' 
amongst  the  nations  to  whom  He  divided  the  earth.  This  must 
be  the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  text ;  but  the  last  clause  of  verse 
Breads  in  LXX,  'angels  of  God'  for  'sons  of  Israel,'  i.e.  its 
Hebrew  original  read  'sons  of  God'  (as  in  Gen.  vi.  2,  4  ;  Job  i, 
6,  ii.  I,  xxxviii,  7).  This  preferable  reading  implies  that  other 
nations  were  committed  to  the  care  of  guardian-angels  (Dan.  x. 
13,  20  f.,  xii.  i\  whilst  Yahweh  Himself  superintends  the  destinies 
of  Israel ;  cf.  Ecclus.  xvii.  17.  In  verse  9  read  with  LXX,  'But' 
(//■/.  '  And ')  instead  of  *  For.' 

10.  He  found  Mm:  cf.  Hos.  ix.  10;  Ezek.  xvi.  5f.  (the  con- 
text of  the  latter  passage  working  out  in  detail  the  figure  of  the 
abandoned  infant,  adopted  by  Yahweh).  For  the  poet's  purpose 
Israel's  history  begins  in  the  desert,  so  that  a  more  effective 
contrast  may  be  gained  with  the  settled  home  of  Canaan. 

tlie  waste  howling  wilderness :  a  desolate  land  where  wild 
beasts  howl. 

the  apple  of  his  eye :   Heb.  '  the  httle  man  of  his  eye,'  i.  e. 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  11-13.     R?  223 

He  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye  : 

As  an  eagle  that  stirreth  up  her  nest, 

That  fluttereth  over  her  young, 

^  He  spread  abroad  his  wings,  he  took  them, 

He  bare  them  on  his  pinions  : 

The  Lord  alone  did  lead  him. 

And  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him. 

He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth, 

And  he  did  eat  the  increase  of  the  field ; 

And  he  made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock. 

And  oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock  ; 

•  Or,  Spreadeth  abroad  hey  wings,  taketh  them^  beareth  them  on 
her  pinions 

the  pupil,  from  its  reflection  of  the  observer  (cf.  Ps.  xvii.  8  ;  Prov. 
vii.  2).  Primitive  thought  frequently  connects  it  with  the  soul, 
discerning  '  a  sign  of  bewitchment  or  approaching  death  in  the 
disappearance  of  the  image,  pupil,  or  baby,  from  the  dim  eyeballs 
of  the  sick  man  *  (Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  i.  431).  Here,  then, 
the  meaning  w^ill  be  '  as  his  very  life.' 

11.  Yahweh,  in  His  care  for  Israel,  is  compared  with  the  eagle 
(properly,  'vulture,'  as  in  xiv.  12),  impelling  its  young  to  fly, 
whilst  saving  them  from  peril.  For  the  figure,  cf.  Exod.  xix.  4 
('  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings') ;  for  the  thought,  Hos.  xi.  r, 
3,  where  Yahweh  is  represented  as  teaching  the  little  child  to 
walk,  and  carrying  him,  when  weary,  on  His  arms. 

12.  no  strangre  god  with  him:  no  '  foreign  god'  helped  Yah- 
weh in  His  fatherly  task  (Hos.  xiii.  4,  R.  V,  marg.,  Isa.  xliii.  12)  ; 
why  then,  it  is  implied,  should  'foreign  gods 'share  in  Israel's 
regard  ? 

xxxii.  13,  14.    The  Settlement  in  Canaan. 

ride  on  the  higfh  places:  as  promised  in  Isa.  Iviii.  14. 
The  figure  is  that  of  the  victorious  warrior,  advancing  resistlessly 
(xxxiii.  29  ;  Hab.  iii.  19  ;  Ps.  xviii.  33"),  and  is  elsewhere  applied 
to  Yahweh  Himself  (Amos  iv.  13  ;  Mic.  i.  3),  who  makes  His 
child  sharer  in  His  victory. 

he  did  eat  the  increase  (fruits)  :  read,  with  the  versions, 
'  He  made  him  eat,'  which  suits  the  parallelism  better. 

The  honey  is  that  of  the  wild  bees  in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks 
(Ps.  Ixxxi.  16)  ;  the  oil,  that  of  the  olive-tree,  growing  in  rocky 
soil  (Job  xxix.  6>  Even  the  least  likely  parts  of  the  land  yield 
their  gracious  tribute  to  Yahwch's  favourites. 


224  DEUTERONOMY  32.  i.i-i6.     R? 

14  Butter  of  kine,  and  milk  of  sheep, 
With  fat  of  lambs, 

And  rams  of  the  breed  of  Bashan,  and  goats, 

With  the  fat  of  kidneys  of  wheat ; 

And  of  the  blood  of  the  grape  thou  drankest  wine. 

1 5  But  Jeshurun  waxed  fat,  and  kicked  : 

Thou  art  waxen  fat,  thou  art  grown  thick,  thou  art 

become  sleek : 
Then  he  forsook  God  which  made  him, 
And  lightly  esteemed  the  Rock  of  his  salvation. 

16  They  moved  him  to  jealousy  with  strange  gods^ 
With  abominations  provoked  they  him  to  anger. 

14.  liutter :  *  curd '  or  curdled  milk,  now,  as  then,  a  common 
Oriental  dish.     Cf.  Doughty,  Arabia  Deseria^  i.  41. 

And  rams:  join  with  previous  line,  as  in  LXX  ;  the  two 
lines  will  then  read  : 

With  fat  of  lambs  and  rams, 
Cattle  of  Bashan  and  goats. 

the  fat  of  kidneys  is  the  choicest  fat  (Lev.  iii.  4  ;  Isa.  xxxiv. 
6) ;  the  phrase  is  here  applied  figuratively  to  wheat,  and  means 
simply  *  the  choicest  wheat'  (Ps.  Ixxxi.  16,  cxlvii.  14). 

the  blood  of  the  grape  (Gen.  xlix.  11),  which  Israel  drinks 
as  (fermenting)  wine. 

xxxii.  15-18.  The  father  forgotten  by  the  well-cared- for  child, 
spoilt  by  prosperity. 

15.  Jeshurun:  (xxxiii.  5,  26  ;  Isa.  xliv.  2),  the  'upright '  one, 
a  title  of  Israel  (cf.  'the  book  of  Jashar,'  R.V.  marg.  to  Joshua 
x.  13),  which  here  becomes  purposely  ironical. 

thou  art  become  sleek :  probably  *  thou  wast  sated,'  or 
gorged  with  food.  In  this  verse  and  in  verse  18,  the  verbs  relate 
to  the  past,  not  to  the  present.  The  child,  it  seems  to  be  implied, 
has  become  an  over-fed  animal,  kicking  against  the  pricks  of  the 
goad  (cf.  I  Sam.  ii.  29)  ;  brutish  sensuality  appeared  instead  of  the 
man's  grateful  obedience. 

lightly  esteemed :  Hebrew  *  treated  as  a  fool '  :  cf. 
Micah  vii.  6  (R.V.  'dishonoureth'). 

16.  strange  (gods)  :  (Jer.  ii.  25,  iii.  13),  the  abominations, 
Isa.  xliv.  19,  with  which  they  vexed  Yahweh  (omit  'to  anger,' 
here  and  in  verse  21,  which  the  Hebrew  does  not  express)  :  cf 
Ps.  Ixxviii.  58. 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  ly-ar.     R?  225 

They  sacrificed  unto  demons,  which  tvere  no  God,     17 

T.   :;ods  whom  they  knew  not, 

To  new  gods  that  came  up  of  late, 

Whom  your  fathers  dreaded  not. 

Of  the  Rock  that  '"^  begat  thee  thou  art  unmindful,      18 

And  hast  forgotten  God  that  gave  thee  birth. 

And  the  Lord  saw  it,  and  abhorred  them^  19 

Because  of  the  provocation  of  his  sons  and  his 

daughters. 
And  he  said,  I  will  hide  my  face  from  them,  20 

I  will  see  what  their  end  shall  be : 
For  they  are  a  very  froward  generation, 
Children  in  whom  is  no  faith. 
They  have  moved  me  to  jealousy  with  that  which  is  21 

not  God ; 

*  Or,  hare 


17.  demons  (Ps.  cvi.  37)  :  the  Hebrew  word  {Shedini)  is 
borrowed  from  the  Assyrian  ^sedu,,  denoting  a  protective  demon 
(subordinate  deity) ,  represented  by  the  bull-colossus  at  the  entrances 
of  temples  [Die  Keilinschrifien  und  das  A.T.,^  p.  455).  Their 
divinity  is  denied  by  the  term  'no-god' ;  whilst  Israel's  'new  gods' 
in  general  are  said  to  be  without  the  link  of  past  history  that  binds 
Israel  to  Yahweh  (Isa.  Ixiii.  16). 

dreaded  not :  '  were  not  acquainted  with '  (from  an  Arabic 
cognate). 

18.  Yahweh  is  here  represented  as  both  father  and  mother  to 
Israel  ('  begat '  of  the  father;  *  gave  thee  birth,'  i.e.  travailed  with 
thee,  of  the  mother). 

xxxii.  19-27.  The  effect  of  this  conduct  on  Yahweh:  Hedeclares 
the  merited  punishment. 

19.  abhorred  (them):  Hebrew  'contemned*  or  'spurned'; 
of.  Jer.  xiv.  21. 

provocation :  the  vexation  inflicted  on  Himself  by  Israel. 

20.  Yahweh  will  stand  aloof  (xxxi.  17,  18),  withdrawing  the 
help  that  has  made  Israel  prosperous. 

a  very  froward  generation :   i.  e.  from-ward  ;  Hebrew  *  a 
generation  of  perversions.' 
faith:  'faithfulness.' 
31.  Notice  the  parallelism  ;    'they'  and  '  I '  are  emphatically 

Q 


226  DEUTERONOMY  32.  22-24.     R? 

They  have  provoked  me  to  anger  with  their  vanities  : 
And  I  will  move  them  to  jealousy  with  those  which 

are  not  a  people  ; 
I  will  provoke  them  to  anger  with  a  foolish  nation. 
2i  For  a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger, 

And  burneth  mito  the  lowest  ^  pit, 
And  devoureth  the  earth  with  her  increase. 
And  setteth  on  fire  the  foundations  of  the  mountains. 

23  I  will  heap  mischiefs  upon  them  ; 

I  will  spend  mine  arrows  upon  them  : 

24  T/iey  shall  be  wasted  with  hunger,  and  devoured 

with  ^  burning  heat 
And  bitter  destruction ; 

*  Heb.  Sheol.  ^  Heb.  burning  coals.     See  Hab.  iii.  5. 

contrasted  in  the  Hebrew  ;  the  '  no-people '  answers  to  the  ^  no- 
god,'  the  'senseless  nation  '  to  '  their  vanities,'  and  the  same  verbs, 
'make  jealous'  and  'vex'  (omit  'to  anger')  are  used  in  both 
clauses.  For  the  question  as  to  the  identity  of  this  '  no-people,' 
through  whom  Yahweh  punishes  Israel,  see  the  introduction  to 
this  chapter.  They  are  not  more  a  people  than  their  gods  are 
God.     See  Introd.,  p.  35. 

vanities:  (///.  'breaths')  a  Jeremianic  term  for  heathen 
deities  (e.  g.  viii.  19).  Paul  applies  the  second  half  of  the  verse 
to  Israel's  jealousy  and  vexation  at  the  entrance  of  heathen  into 
the  kingdom  (Rom.  x.  19). 

22  f.   Yahweh' s  anger  against  faithless  Israel. 

the  lowest  pit :  Sheol  is  named,  in  parallelism  with  '  the 
foundations  of  the  mountains,'  to  denote  the  unlimited  reach  of 
Yahweh's  anger  :  see  the  diagram  in  the  Century  Bible,  '  Genesis,' 
p.  66. 

23.  I  will  heap :  Hebrew  '  I  will  sweep  (catch)  up,'  but  we 
ought  probably  to  repoint  the  Hebrew  consonants  and  read  either 
'  I  will  add  '  or  (with  versions)  '  I  will  gather ' ;  mischiefs  : 
Hebrew  *  evils.' 

spend :  i.  e.  use  up,  exhaust  the  whole  quiver  against  Israel 
[C.L  Ezek.  V    i6\ 

24.  The  three  plagues  of  hunger,  pestilence,  wild  beasts  (and 
reptiles)  ;  Jer.  xiv,  12,  &c.  ;  Ezek,  xiv.  15,  21. 

burnixiir  heat:    '  the  Fire-bolt,  a  poetical  designation  of  the 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  25-29.     R?  227 

And  the  teeth  of  beasts  will  I  send  upon  them, 

With  the  poison  of  crawling  things  of  the  dust. 

Without  shall  the  sword  bereave,  25 

And  in  the  chambers  terror  ; 

//  shall  destroy  both  young  man  and  virgin, 

The  suckling  with  the  man  of  gray  hairs. 

I  said,  I  would  scatter  them  afar,  26 

I  would  make  the  remembrance  of  them  to  cease 

from  among  men : 
Were  it  not  that  I  feared  the  provocation  of  the  27 

enemy, 
Lest  their  adversaries  should  misdeem, 
Lest  they  should  say.  Our  hand  is  exalted, 
And  the  Lord  hath  not  done  all  this. 
For  they  are  a  nation  void  of  counsel,  28 

And  there  is  no  understanding  in  them. 
Oh  that  they  were  wise,  that  they  understood  this,      29 
That  they  would  consider  their  latter  end ! 

fiery  darts,  sent  by  Jehovah,  to  which  the  poet  (or  popular  imagina- 
tion) attributed  fever,  or  other  pestilential  complaint'  (Driver), 

25.  The  evils  of  war,  as  a  fourth  plague,  without  and  within,  on 
young  and  on  old. 

xxxii.  26,  27.  *  I  should  have  said,  I  will  cleave  them  in  pieces, 
I  will  make,  &c.'  Yahweh  was  hindered  from  saying  this  (and 
accomplishing  it)  by  the  reason  given  in  verse  27,  that  the 
enemies  of  Israel  would  count  it  their  own  victory  over  Yahweh 
and  His  people,  not  Yahweh's  will. 

xxxii.  28-33.  The  poet  laments  Israel's  failure  to  .understand 
disaster  as  part  of  Yahweh's  purpose  ;  how  can  He  b,e  compared 
with  heathen  deities,  as  though  they  were  victorious  over  Him  ? 
nor  can  these  corrupt  nations  be  thought  to  be  themselves  pleasing 
to  Yahweh. 

28.  void  of  counsel :  Hebrew  *  perishing  of  counsel '  (Jer.  xlix. 
7).  This  is  the  reason  ('  For ')  why  such  severe  discipline  is 
necessary. 

29.  '  If  they  had  been  wise,  they  would  understand  this,  they 
would  discern  their  latter  end,'  i.  e.  ti^'^^'-  ~'^  to  which  Yahweh 
purposed  to  leave  them  (verse  20). 

Q    2  J 


228  DEUTERONOMY  32.  30-34.     R? 

30  How  should  one  chase  a  thousand, 
And  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight, 
Except  their  Rock  had  sold  them, 
And  the  Lord  had  delivered  them  up  ? 

31  For  their  rock  is  not  as  our  Rock, 

Even  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges. 
52  For  their  vine  is  of  the  vine  of  Sodom, 

And  of  the  fields  of  Gomorrah  : 
Their  grapes  are  grapes  of  ^  gall, 
Their  clusters  are  bitter : 

33  Their  wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons, 
And  the  cruel  venom  of  asps. 

34  Is  not  this  laid  up  in  store  with  me, 
Sealed  up  ^  among  my  treasures  ? 

'^  See  ch.  xxix.  18.  ^  Or,  in  my  treasuries 

30.  The  shameful  defeat  of  Israel  in  battle  is  due,  not  to 
Yahweh's  inadequacy,  but  to  His  deliberate  abandonment  of 
Israel's  cause  :  cf.  Isa.  xxx.  17  ;  contrast  Lev.  xxvi.  8. 

31.  Even  Israel's  foes  shall  recognize  the  unique  supremacy  of 
Yahweh.  (Thus  the  Egyptians  are  represented  as  confessing  the 
invincible  might  of  Yahweh,  Exod.  xiv.  25.) 

xxxii.  32,  33.  The  figure  of  the  vine,  so  often  used  of  Israel,  is 
here  applied  to  Israel's  foes,  to  describe  their  corruption  in  root 
and  fruit ;  less  probably,  of  Israel's  corruption. 

32.  the  vine  of  Sodom,  &c.  The  names  *  Sodom '  and 
*  Gomorrah '  are  here  used  generally,  as  often  (Isa.  i.  10  ;  Jer. 
xxiii.  14),  as  types  of  wickedness. 

32''.  Their  grapes  are  poisonous  grapes, 

Bitter  clusters  are  theirs. 

33.  the  poison  of  drag-ons :  i.e.  of  serpents  (Ps.  xci.  13; 
Exod.  vii.  9  f.). 

venom  of  asps  :  possibly  of  cobras.  '  Poison '  and  '  venom  ' 
should  be  interchanged  in  this  verse  to  correspond  more  exactly 
with  the  Hebrew. 

xxxii.  34,  35.  Yahweh  declares  that  this  corruption  shall  itself 
be  punished. 

34.  Sealed  up  amonff  my  treasures:  read  with  R.V.  marg. 
For  the  figure  (sin  ke^*,  for  punishment),  see  Hos.  xiii.  12; 
Job  xiv.  17.  ,  jj, 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  35-38.     R?  229 

Vengeance  is  mine,  and  recompence,  35 

At  the  time  when  their  foot  shall  slide : 

For  the  day  of  their  calamity  is  at  hand, 

And  the  things  that  are  to  come  upon  them  shall 

make  haste. 
For  the  Lord  shall  judge  his  people,  36 

And  repent  himself  for  his  servants ; 
When  he  seeth  that  their  power  is  gone, 
And  there  is  none  remai?iing^  shut  up  or  left  at  large. 
And  he  shall  say,  Where  are  their  gods,  37 

The  rock  in  which  they  *  trusted ; 
Which  did  eat  the  fat  of  their  sacrifices,  38 

*  Or,  took  refuge 


35.  Veng'eauce  is  mine :  quoted  Heb.  x.  30 ;  Rom.  xii.  19. 
The  LXX  and  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  however,  read  *  For  the 
day  of  vengeance  and  recompense,'  which  connects  more  closely 
with  the  previous  verse,  and  formsa  better  parallel  with  '  For  the  time 
when  their  foot  shall  slide  '  (so  giving  Yahweh  His  opportunity). 

at  hand :  in  which  speedy  approach  of  Yahweh's  day  of 
intervention  lies  the  practical  comfort  of  the  poem  (cf.  Isa.  xl.  i). 

36.  Israel's  helplessness  affords  a  motive  parallel  with  that  of 
heathen  corruption  for  Yahweh's  intervention. 

jndge:  i.  e.,  as  the  parallel  line  shows,  examine  His  people's 
case,  and  decide  that  the  time  for  intervention  is  ripe. 

repent  himself :  or  'have  compassion  on.'  This  half- verse 
is  repeated  in  Ps.  cxxxv.  14. 

power :  Hebrew  '  hand  '  (Lev.  xxv.  35),  perhaps  here  in  the 
sense  *  support.' 

shut  up  or  left  at  larg-e  :  in  Hebrew  an  alliterative  phrase, 
used  to  express  *  all '  (r  Kings  xiv.  10,  &c.)  ;  we  may  compare 
such  a  phrase  in  English  as  '  bag  and  baggage  ' ;  such  phrases  are 
frequent  in  Semitic  speech  (xxix.  19}.  The  precise  origin  of  this 
phrase  is  doubtful  ;  it  may  refer  to  those  under  taboo  and  those 
free  from  taboo,  a  very  important  principle  of  classification  for 
primitive  thought  {Rel.  Sem.^  456). 

xxxii.  37-39.  Yahweh  contrasts  Himself  with  the  gods  who  can 
do  nothing  against  His  judgement.  Where  are  the  gods  to  which 
Israel  has  turned  for  refuge  (R.  V.  marg.)  ?  on  which  Israel  has 
lavished  material  gifts  in  vain. 


230  DEUTERONOMY  32.  39-41.     R? 

And  drank  the  wine  of  their  drink  offering  ? 

Let  them  rise  up  and  help  you, 

Let  them  be  your  protection. 

See  now  that  I,  even  I,  am  he, 

And  there  is  no  god  with  me  : 

I  kill,  and  I  make  alive ; 

I  have  wounded,  and  I  heal : 

And  there  is  none  that  can  deliver  out  of  my  hand. 

For  I  lift  up  my  hand  to  heaven, 

And  say,  As  I  live  for  ever, 

If  I  whet  ^  my  glittering  sword, 

And  mine  hand  take  hold  on  judgement ; 

I  will  render  vengeance  to  mine  adversaries, 

And  will  recompense  them  that  hate  me. 

*  Heb.  the  lightning  of  my  sword. 

38.  let  them  toe  your  protection:  Hebrew  *  let  there  be  unto 
you  a  shelter '  (secret  placed     The  versions  read  '  let  them  be.' 

39.  I  am  Ixe :  i.e.  Yahweh,  the  supreme  God  (Isa.  xli.  4, 
xliii.  10,  13,  xlviii.  i2\the  first  and  the  last,  with  whom  there  is  no 
god  (Deut  iv.  35),  and  from  whose  hand  there  is  no  deliverer 
(Hos.  ii.  10,  V.  14  ;  Isa.  xliii.  13). 

Z  kill ...  I  heal :  both  pronouns  are  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew. 
The  reference  is  simply  to  the  absolute  power  over  life  and  death 
possessed  by  Yahweh,  and  not  to  any  doctrine  of  individual  resur- 
rection (i  Sam.  ii.  6  ;  Hos.  vi.  2,  &c.). 

xxxii.  40-42.  Yahweh  swears  to  take  vengeance  on  Israel's 
foes, 

lift  up  my  hand  :  (Exod.  vi.  8  ;  Num.  xiv.  30  ;  Ezek.  xx.  5, 
and  often  in  Ezekiel)  the  action  of  one  taking  an  oath  (Gen. 
xiv.  22). 

As  I  live:  often  in  Ezekiel  (v.  11),  and  elsewhere  :  Yahweh 
swears  by  Himself  (Heb.  vi.  13). 

41.  If  does  not  make  the  vengeance  conditional,  but  when  the 
time  for  action  arrives,  the  vengeance  will  be  complete. 

my  sflittering  sword:  (note  R.  V.  marg.)  cf.  Nah.  iii.  3, 
Hab.  iii.  ri  for  the  flashing  weapon  of  the  warrior,  here  figura- 
tively assigned  to  Yahweh,  who  takes  hold  on  judgement  as  a 
weapon. 


DEUTERONOMY  32.  42-45.    R?  D^         231 

I  will  make  mine  arrows  drunk  with  blood,  42 

And  my  sword  shall  devour  flesh  ; 
With  the  blood  of  the  slain  and  the  captives, 
^  From  ^  the  head  of  the  leaders  of  the  enemy, 
c  Rejoice,  O  ^  ye  nations,  w/fk  his  people  :  43 

For  he  will  avenge  the  blood  of  his  servants. 
And  will  render  vengeance  to  his  adversaries. 
And  will  make  expiation  for  his  land,  for  his  people. 
And  Moses  came  and  spake  all  the  words  of  this  song  44 

in  the  ears  of  the  people,  he,  and  Hoshea  the  son  of  Nun. 

[D^']  And  Moses  made  an  end  of  speaking  all   these  45 

*  Or,  From  the  beginning  of  revenges  upon  the  enemy 

''Or,  the  hairy  head  of  the  enemy 

"  Or,  Praise  his  people,  ye  nations         ^  Or,  ye  nations,  his  people 


42.  Yahweh's  battlefield  described  (cf.  Isa.  Ixiii.  3-6).  The 
weapons  once  turned  against  Israel  (verses  23,  25")  are  now  so 
fiercely  employed  against  Israel's  foes  that  the  poet  must  needs 
personify  their  fury  ;  the  very  captives  are  slain  to  gratify  them. 

From  the  head,  &c.  The  marginal  alternatives  show  the 
difficulty  of  translation  ;  the  second  of  these  is  preferable  to 
the  text,  as  giving  a  parallel  detail  to  the  'blood,'  these  scalps 
being  the  prey  of  Yahweh's  sword. 

43.  Conclusion  :  let  the  (other)  nations  congratulate  Israel  upon 
this  vengeance  taken  on  Israel's  foes. 

Hejoice,  O  ye  nations,  with  his  people :  rather  (cf.  R.  V. 
marg.),  '  Greet  His  people  joyfully  '  (the  verb  denotes  the  utterance 
of  a  ringing  cry,  here  inspired  by  the  thoiight  of  Yahweh's  inter- 
vention). 

make  expiation :  (see  on  xxi.  8)  for  the  blood  of  Israel  that 
has  been  shed  (the  fact  that  this  bloodshed  was,  in  verse  25,  a 
divine  punishment  of  Israel  is  disregarded). 

for  his  land,  for  his  people  :  read,  with  versions,  '  for  the 
land  of  his  people.' 

44.  Concluding  note  by  the  redactor,  answering  to  the  intro- 
ductory note,  xxxi.  30. 

Hoshea:  i.e.  Joshua,  which  the  versions  read  here.  Cf. 
xxxi.  19  (note). 

xxxii.  45-47.  Moses  commends  the  law  as  Israel's  life.  This  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Song,  but  is  connected  with  xxxi.  24-9. 


232  DEUTERONOMY  32.  46-51.     D^  P 

46  words  to  all  Israel :  and  he  said  unto  them,  Set  your 
heart  unto  all  the  words  which  I  testify  unto  you  this 
day ;   which  ye  shall  command  your  children,  to  observe 

47  to  do  all  the  words  of  this  law.  For  it  is  no  vain  thing 
for  you ;  because  it  is  your  life,  and  through  this  thing  ye 
shall  prolong  your  days  upon  the  land,  whither  ye  go  over 
Jordan  to  possess  it. 

48  [P]  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses  that  selfsame 

49  day,  saying,  Get  thee  up  into  this  mountain  of  Abarim, 
unto  mount  Nebo,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Moab,  that  is 
over  against  Jericho  ;  and  behold  the  land  of  Canaan, 
which  I  give  unto  the  children  of  Israel  for  a  possession  : 

50  and  die  in  the  mount  whither  thou  goest  up,  and  be 
gathered  unto  thy  people  ;  as  Aaron  thy  brother  died  in 

51  mount  Hor,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people  :   because 


46.  unto  you :  *  against  you '  ;  ^  God's  law  is  viewed  as  a 
testimony  against  human  sin '  (Driver). 

which  ye  shall  command  :  rather,  '  in  order  that  ye  may 
charge  '  (iv.  10).  Once  more  there  is  characteristic  reference  to 
the  religious  training  of  the  young  (vi.  7,  &c.). 

47.  vain:  Heb.  *  empty  '  of  practical  bearing  on  life  ;  to  obey 
this  law  is  to  live  in  prosperity  (cf.  xxx.  20). 

xxxii.  48-52.  Moses  is  ordered  to  ascend  Mount  Nebo,  there 
to  die.  He  is  to  see  from  afar  the  Promised  Land,  but,  because 
of  his  infidelity  at  Kadesh,  is  not  to  enter  it.  (A  duplicate,  perhaps 
editorial,  of  Num.  xxvii.  12-14,  PO 

48.  that  selfsame  day:  i.  e.  that  of  i.  3  (P). 

49.  Abarim  :  Heb.  '■  the  Abarim,'  meaning  '  the  regions  beyond ' 
(the  Jordan)  ;  the  word  denotes  '  the  edge  of  the  great  Moabite 
plateau  overlooking  the  Jordan  valley,  of  which  Mount  Nebo  was 
the  most  prominent  headland  '  (E.B.,  4). 

mount  Nebo :  (Num.  xxxiii.  47)  called  '  the  top  of  Pisgah  ' 
in  Deut.  iii.  27  (D-),  the  two  designations  being  editorially  identified 
in  xxxiv.  i  (q.  v.). 

50.  thy  people :  here,  probably,  in  the  original  sense  of  the 
word,  '  thy  father's  kin,'  as  elsewhere  (in  ihis  phrase)  in  P. 

died  in  mount  Kor :  Num.  xx.  22-9 ;  the  place  signified  is 
unknown. 


DEUTERONOMY  3?.  52—33.  i.     PR?     233 

ye  trespassed  against  me  in  the  midst  of  the  children  of 
Israel  at  the  waters  of  Meribah  of  Kadesh,  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Zin  ;  because  ye  sanctified  me  not  in  the  midst  of 
the  children  of  Israel.  For  thou  shalt  see  the  land  52 
before  thee ;  but  thou  shalt  not  go  thither  into  the  land 
which  I  give  the  children  of  Israel. 

[R?]  And  this  is  the  blessing,  wherewith  Moses  the  33 

51.  trespassed:  'acted  unfaithfully':  see  Num.  xx.  1-T3 ; 
for  the  locality  (Kadesh),  see  on  i.  2  ;  for  the  sin  of  Moses,  on 

».  37- 

sanctified  me  not :  the  same  verb  (Kadash)  is  used  in  Num. 
XX.  12,  with  play  on  the  place-name,  Kadesh. 

52.  before  thee :  *  from  a  distance  '  :  cf.  2  Kings  iv.  25,  where 
R.  V.  renders  the  same  word  *  afar  off.' 

xxxiii.  The  Blessing  of  Moses.  This  poem  is  not  incorporated 
into  the  narrative  of  Deuteronomy  like  the  '  Song,'  but  depends 
simply  on  its  superscription  (xxxiii.  i)  for  its  connexion  with  the 
book.  Mosaic  authorship  is  disproved,  not  only  by  the  reference 
to  Moses  himself  in  verse  4,  but  by  the  assumption  that  the 
conquest  of  Canaan  lies  in  the  past  (verses  27,  28)  and  by  other 
features  of  the  poem.  It  consists  of  an  introduction  (verses  2-5) 
which  describes  Yahweh's  coming  from  Sinai,  the  gift  of  law  and 
land,  and  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  ;  of  eleven  longer  or 
shorter  eulogistic  or  sympathetic  sayings  about  the  eleven  tribes, 
Simeon  being  omitted  (verses  6  25)  ;  and  of  a  conclusion  (verses 
26-9)  emphasizing  the  providence  of  a  unique  God  and  the  pros- 
perity of  a  consequently  unique  people.  In  regard  to  the  central 
portion,  each  tribe  is  characterized  by  some  salient  feature  in  its 
situation,  character,  or  history,  and  the  historical  conditions  at  the 
time  of  its  composition  may  consequently  be  inferred.  Simeon 
has  disappeared  as  a  tribe  (see  on  xviii.  i)  ;  Reuben  (verse  6)  is 
diminishing ;  the  prayer  is  offered  that  Judah  may  return  to  his 
people  (verse  7).  Levi  is  specially  commended  as  a  priestly 
community  (verses  8-1 1) ;  in  Benjamin's  land  is  Yahweh's 
sanctuary  (verse  12)  ;  Joseph  occupies  the  foremost  place  in  the 
poem,  the  fertility  of  his  territory  and  its  military  origin  being 
emphasized  (verses  13-17) ;  Zebulun  and  Issachar  are  com- 
mercially prosperous  (verses  18,  19) ;  the  trans-Jordanic  territory 
of  Gad  appears  to  have  been  increased  recently  (verses  20,  21), 
whilst  the  northern  position  of  Dan,  Naphtali,  and  Asher,  and  the 
fertile  territory  of  the  two  latter,  are  also  noticed  (verses  22-5\ 
From  these  references  it  seems  clear  that  the  date  of  the  poem 
must  lie  between  the  division  of  the  kingdom,  c.  030  b,  c.  (verse 


234  DEUTERONOMY  33.  2.     R? 

man  of  God  blessed  the  children  of  Israel  before  his 
2  death.     And  he  said, 

The  Lord  came  from  Sinai, 


7)  and  the  fall  of  the  Northern  Kingdom,  734-722  (verse  16) ; 
and  within  this  period  the  prosperous  reign  of  Jeroboam  II  (782- 
743)  best  corresponds  with  the  general  atmosphere  of  contentment 
and  security  (contrast  xxxii,  1-43)  in  which  the  poem  moves  (so 
Kuenen,  Moore,  Steuernagel,  Bertholet,  and  others ;  Dillmann 
and  Driver  prefer  a  date  under  Jeroboam  I,  soon  after  the  division 
into  two  kingdoms  had  taken  place).  The  central  part  of  the  poem 
appears,  from  its  chief  interests,  to  have  been  written  in  the 
Northern  Kingdom,  possibly  (in  view  of  verse  8f.)  by  a  Levite  at 
some  northern  sanctuary.  The  introduction  (verses  2-5)  and 
conclusion  (verses  26-9),  whilst  forming  an  effective  setting  for  the 
'blessings,'  were  originally,  perhaps,  an  independent  psalm,  of 
later  (post-exilic  ?)  date  (Steuernagel,  Bertholet,  Moore^  Oxf,  Hex.). 
This  psalm  describes  Israel's  deliverance  (through  a  theophany) 
from  the  enemy,  and  its  subsequent  happy  security.  It  must  be 
admitted,  however,  that  the  separation  of  psalm  from  '  blessings  ' 
is  not  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  poem  may  well  be  read  as 
a  unity,  which  '  breathes  from  end  to  end  a  national  spirit  exalted 
by  power  and  prosperity  and  unbroken  by  disaster  '  (Moore,  E.B.y 
1090).  It  should  be  compared  throughout  with  the  (earlier) 
*  Blessing  of  Jacob  '  (Gen.  xlix). 

xxxiii.  I.  Editorial  note,  linking  the  poem  to  the  context. 

1.  the  blessing- :  cf.  Joshua  xiv.  13  (note)  for  the  significance 
attached  to  such  words  ;  here  deepened  by  the  fact  that  a  dying 
man  speaks  them  (Gen.  xxvii.  7). 

the  man  of  God  :  a  name  given  to  Moses  in  the  title  to  Ps.  xc, 
and  in  Joshua  xiv.  6.  Elsewhere  a  frequent  designation  of  the 
prophet  (e.  g.  i  Sam.  ix.  6). 

xxxiii.  2-5.  Introduction.  Yahweh  revealed  Himself  from  the 
south  for  the  people  He  loved,  to  whom  He  gave  law  and  land, 
that  He  might  rule  them.  (This  seems  to  be  the  general  meaning 
of  the  section,  but  the  text  is  frequently  corrupt  and  the  details  of 
interpretation  uncertain.) 

2.  The  opening  verses  form  a  theophany,  such  as  is  found  in 
Judges  V.  4f.  (Ps.  Ixviii.  7  f.)  ;  Hab.  iii.  3  f . :  in  each  of  these 
Yahweh  comes  up  from  His  abode  in  the  south,  to  intervene  for 
His  people. 

Sinai  :  '  the  mountain  of  God '  (Exod.  iii.  i),  to  which  the 
giving  of  the  law  was  assigned  because  of  its  previous  sacredness 
(not  vice   versa).     Yahweh   says    He   has   brought    Israel   unto 


DEUTERONOMY  33.  3.     R?  235 

And  rose  from  Seir  unto  them  ; 

He  shined  forth  from  mount  Paran, 

And  he  came  from  the  ten  thousands  of  ^  holy  ones  : 

At  his  right  hand  ^  was  a  fiery  law  unto  them. 

Yea,  he  loveth  the  c  peoples  ;  3 

All  d  his  saints  are  in  thy  hand  : 

And  they  sat  down  at  thy  feet ; 

*  Heb.  holiness.  ^  Or,  zvasfire^  a  law    Or,  as  otherwise 

read,  were  streams  for  them  ^  Or,  tribes  ^  Or,  their  holy 

ones 


Himself  (Exod.  xix.  4),  in  bringing  the  people  to  Sinai  (of.  Rel. 
Sem.y^  p.  118)  ;  Sinai  is  His  abode  on  earth. 

rose :  i.  e.  like  the  sun,  as  the  Hebrew  verb  denotes  :  cf. 
Hab.  iii.  4. 

Seir  (ii.  i)  .  .  .  Paran  (i.  i,  place  uncertain) ;  perhaps  named 
as  indicating  the  route  by  which  Yahweh  comes  from  Sinai  to 
Israel. 

the  ten  thousands  of  holy  ones  :  i.  e.  from  the  midst  of  the 
angels  surrounding  Him  (i  Kings  xxii.  19,  &c.).  But  for  'holiness' 
(see  R.  V.  marg.,  i.  e.  Kodesh)  LXX  has  the  place-name  Kadesh 
(i.  2),  which  would  give  a  better  parallel  wnth  Paran ;  and  we 
ought  probably  to  read  '  from  '  (Dillmann)  or  '  to  '  (Wellhausen) 
*  Meribath-Kadesh '  (xxxii.  51).  The  reading  of  the  Hebrew 
text  is  responsible  for  the  later  belief  (cf.  Targum  and  LXX)  that 
the  law  was  ordained  through  angels  (Acts  vii.  53;  Gal.  iii.  19; 
Heb.  ii.  2). 

a  flery  law  unto  them  :  this  can  hardly  be  a  correct  render- 
ing, since  *  a  fire,  a  law  '  (R.  V.  marg.^)  j'ields  no  good  sense, 
and  supposes  a  Persian  word  to  be  used  for  'law.'  R.  V.  marg.'' 
gives  a  (doubtful)  rendering  of  a  word  made  b}'  combining  those 
rendered  '  fire '  and  '  law.*  The  text  is  corrupt,  and  numerous 
attempts  at  emendation  have  been  made,  of  which  Dillmann's 
'  a  burning  fire '  has  perhaps  won  most  acceptance  (*  from  his 
right  hand '). 

3.  the  peoples:  read,  with  LXX,  'his  people,'  since  the 
reference  must  be  to  Israel,  and  the  interpretation  of  R.  V.  marg. 
is  without  sufficient  justification. 

his  saints :  R.  V.  marg.  applies  the  pronoun  to  Israel. 
Steuernagel  follows  Lucian's  LXX  in  reading,  '  in  His  hands ' 
for  '  in  thy  hand.' 

And  they  sat  down  at  thy  feet :  the  rendering  of  the  verb  is 
based  on  a  supposed  Arabic  cognate.     But  the  words  appear  to 


236  DEUTERONOMY  33.  4-7.     R? 

Every  o?ie  ^  shall  receive  of  thy  words. 

Moses  commanded  us  a  law, 

An  inheritance  for  the  assembly  of  Jacob 

And  ^  he  was  king  in  Jeshurun, 

When  the  heads  of  the  people  were  gathered, 

All  the  tribes  of  Israel  together. 

Let  Reuben  live,  and  not  die ; 
c  Yet  let  his  men  be  few. 

And  this  is  the  blessing  of  Judah  :  and  he  said, 
Hear,  Lord,  the  voice  of  Judah, 

^  Or,  received  ^  Or,  there  was  a  king 

"  Or,  And  let  not  his  men 

be  corrupt,  and  the  translation  of  the  second  half  of  this  verse 
is  very  doubtful.     Driver  renders  : 

And  they  [followed]  at  thy  foot, 
Receiving  of  thy  words. 

4.  inheritance:  i.  e.  probably  Canaan  ;  'for'  is  supplied  by 
R.  V.  to  make  a  connexion. 

5.  he  was  king":  i.e.  Yahweh.  R.V.  marg.  will  most 
naturally  refer  to  Saul. 

Jeshurnu  :  verse  26,  xxxii.  15  (note). 

xxxiii.  6-25.  The  separate  blessings  on  the  eleven  tribes  {excluding 
Simeon). 

6.  Reuben  (the  firstborn,  Gen.  xlix.  3)  ;  blamed  in  the  Song 
of  Deborah  (Judges  v.  15**,  16)  for  absence  from  the  conflict ; 
cursed  by  Jacob  (Gen.  xlix.  3,  4),  and  of  little  historical  importance 
(settled  east  of  Jordan,  Joshua  xiii.  15-23,  but  not  mentioned  in 
Mesha's  inscription,  c.  850).  Here  the  hope  is  expressed  that 
the  tribe  may  not  become  wholly  extinct. 

Yet  let  his  men  be  few  :  this  is  the  only  approach  to  a  curse 
which  the  '  Blessing '  contains.  The  alternative  of  R.  V.  marg. 
carries  the  negative  of  the  first  clause  over  into  the  second,  but 
this  is  grammatically  improbable  (cf.  Driver,  p.  395"^. 

7.  And  this  is  of  Judah  :  probably,  like  the  notes  introducing 
all  the  blessings  except  that  of  Reuben,  an  editorial  insertion, 
not  belonging  to  the  original  poem. 

Judah  :  settled  in  the  south  of  Palestine  (Joshua  xv)  ;  not 
named  in  the  Song  of  Deborah  ;  becoming  of  historical  importance 
under  David  ;  its  military  success  and  supremacy  are  praised  in 


DEUTERONOMY  33.  8.     R?  237 

And  bring  him  in  unto  his  people : 

a  With  his  hands  he  contended  ^for  himself; 

And  thou  shalt  be  an  help  against  his  adversaries. 

And  of  Levi  he  said,  8 

Thy  Thummim  and  thy  Urim  are  with  cthy  godly 

one, 
Whom  thou  didst  prove  at  Massah, 
With   whom   thou   didst    strive    at   the   waters   of 

Meribah ; 

■  Or,  Let  his  hands  be  sufficient  for  him  ^  Or,  for  them 

'^  Or,  him  whom  thou  lovesi 

the  Blessing  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xlix.  8  f.).  Here  the  poet  praj'S  for 
the  reunion  of  Judah  with  his  people  (Israel)  and  for  Judah's 
victory  over  enemies  in  some  present  need.  The  verse  is  im- 
portant for  the  dating  of  the  Blessing,  since  it  presupposes  the 
separation  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Kingdoms,  which  took 
place  through  Jeroboam  I  (c.  930  ;   i  Kings  xii.  20). 

for  himself:  Hebrew  *  for  him,'  leaving  the  reference  un- 
certain (cf.  R.  V.  marg.).  Stade's  conjecture,  however  {G.  V.  /., 
i.  p.  160),  *  With  thy  hands  contend  for  him '  (making  the  line 
a  prayer  to  Yahweh,  like  the  rest  of  the  verse),  is  very  probably 
right,  and  has  found  frequent  acceptance. 

8.  ]Levi:  see  note  on  xviii.  i  for  the  early  history  of  this  tribe, 
here  already  a  priestly  community. 

Thy  Tlmmmiiu  and  thy  XJrim  :  the  sacred  lot,  administered 
by  the  priest,  probably  giving  a  *  Yes '  or  '  No '  in  reply  to 
inquiry.  The  passage  best  illustrating  this  practice  is  the  LXX 
of  I  Sam.  xiv.  41  :  'And  Saul  said,  Yahweh,  God  of  Israel,  why 
hast  thou  not  answered  thy  servant  to-day  ?  is  the  wrong  in  me 
or  in  Jonathan  my  son  ?  Yahweh,  God  of  Israel,  give  Urim ;  and  if 
thus  thou  say,  give  to  thy  people  Israel,  give  Thummim.'  Cf. 
Exod.  xxviii.  30 ;  Lev.  viii.  8  ;  Ezra  ii.  63. 

with  thy  g'odly  one :  Hebrew  '  for  a  man,  thy  kindly  or  pious 
one  ' ;  either  the  tribe,  conceived  as  a  person,  or  Moses  (Aaron)  as 
its  representative. 

Massah  (Exod.  xvii.  1-7),  Meribah  (Num.  xx.  2-13)  :  the 
O.  T.  narrative  throws  no  light  on  the  manner  in  which  Levi  was 
tested  and  striven  with  (or  lor)  ;  nor  can  the  references  to  Moses 
and  Aaron  be  said  (representatively)  to  explain  the  present 
passage,  which  supposes  Levi  to  have  come  out  successfully  from 
the  ordeal. 


238  DEUTERONOMY   33.  9-11.     R? 

Who  said  of  his  father,  and  of  his  mother,  I  have  not 

seen  him ; 
Neither  did  he  acknowledge  his  brethren, 
Nor  knew  he  his  own  children : 
For  they  have  observed  thy  word, 
And  keep  thy  covenant. 
They  shall  teach  Jacob  thy  judgements, 
And  Israel  thy  law  : 
They  shall  put  incense  ^  before  thee, 
And  whole  burnt  offering  upon  thine  altar. 
Bless,  Lord,  his  substance, 
And  accept  the  work  of  his  hands  : 
Smite  through  the  loins  of  them  that  rise  up  against 

him, 

"•  Heb.  in  thy  nostrils. 


9.  Levi's  renunciation  of  the  ties  of  blood,  in  faithful  observance 
of  the  priestly  office.  The  reference  is  probably  to  the  general 
impartiality  and  independence  of  worldly  considerations  expected 
of  the  priest,  of  which  the  incident  recorded  in  Exod.  xxxii.  27-9 
will  afford  a  particular  illustration  :  cf.  Lev.  xxi.  1 1  ;  i  Sam.  i.  28 
(contrast  Eli's  partiality,  ii.  29).  The  verbs  should  be  rendered 
in  the  present  tense  in  verses  9,  10. 

tliy  covenant :  Mai.  ii.  4-9. 

10.  The  function  of  the  Levitical  priest  (the  whole  tribe  :  see 
on  xviii.  i)  is  twofold  :  to  give  the  oracles  and  other  decisions 
(cf.  xvii.  10  f.;  law  =  direction,  teaching)  of  Yahweh,  and  to  offer 
sacrifice. 

incense :  possibly  in  the  earlier  and  more  general  meaning, 
*  smoke  of  sacrifice.'  For  the  anthropomorphism  of  R.  V.  marg., 
cf.  I  Sam.  xxvi.  19  (R.  V.  marg.)  ;  Gen.  viii.  21,  &c. 

whole  burnt  ofTeringr :  see  on  xiii.  16. 

11.  his  substance  :  i.  e.  his  possessions  ;  but '  strength '  (which 
the  Hebrew  word  originally  means)  is  here  preferable  ;  the  work 
of  his  hands  will  be  Levi's  sacrificial  acts. 

Smite  through  the  loins  of :  Hebrew  '  smite  as  to  the  loins  ' 
round  which  is  the  girdle  (Prov.  xxxi.  17),  and  which  are  the  seat 
of  bodily  strength  (Nahum  ii.  i;  Ezek.  xxix.  7;  Ps.  Ixvi.  11, 
Ixix.  23),  trembling  in  the  anguish  of  travail  (Isa.  xxi,  3)  or  fear 
(Nahum  ii.  10).     The  particular  reference  to  the  (obscure)  history 


DEUTERONOMY  33.  12,13.     R?  239 

And  of  them  that  hate  him,  that  they  rise  not  again. 

Of  Benjamin  he  said,  ^^ 

The  beloved  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  in  safety  by  him ; 
He  covereth  him  all  the  day  long, 
And  he  dwelleth  between  his  shoulders. 

And  of  Joseph  he  said,  ^3 

Blessed  of  the  Lord  be  his  land ; 
For  the  precious  things  of  heaven,  for  the  dew, 


of  Levi  is  unknown  ;  some  opposition  to  the  priestly  prerogatives 
(cf.  Num.  xvi,  I  Kings  xii.  31)  is  in  viev;^.  The  martial  figure  has 
led  some  to  suppose  that  the  verse  belongs  to  Judah,  and  should 
follow  verse  7  ;  but  this  transposition  does  not  seem  necessary. 

12.  Benjamin  :  the  tribe  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  ;  celebrated,  in 
the  Blessing  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xlix.  27),  for  its  martial  character,  as 
'a  ravening  wolf  ;  here  appearing  as  a  favourite  son  of  Yahweh, 
even  as  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xliv.  20),  and  called  ^  the  beloved  of  Yah- 
weh '  (note  its  central  position  in  the  land,  Joshua  xviii.  11  f.). 

by  Mni :  omit  with  versions. 

He  covereth :  '  surroundeth,*  i.  e.  Yahweh  protects  Benjamin. 

lie  dwelleth  between  his  shoulders :  Yahweh  dwells  (in 
His  sanctuary)  amongst  the  mountains  (for  '  shoulders  '  in  this 
sense,  cf.  Joshua  xv.  8,  xviii.  13)  of  Benjamin.  The  reference  is 
usually  taken  to  be  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  (see  on  Joshua  xv. 
8 :  cf.  Josh,  xviii.  28\  Others  {e.g.  Bertholet,  thinking  of  the  North 
IsraeHte  origin  of  the  poem)  explain  of  the  sanctuary  at  Bethel 
;Amos  vii.  13). 

13.  Joseph:  i.e.  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  (verse  17:  cf.  Gen. 
xlviii.  5),  to  which  tribes  the  most  prominent  place  in  the  Blessing 
is  here  given  (cf.  Gen.  xlix.  22-6,  with  which  the  present  passage 
shows  literary  relationship).  The  prominence  is  natural  in  view 
of  the  historical  importance  of  'Joseph,'  as  the  centre  of  the 
Northern  Kingdom,  in  which,  moreover,  this  poem  probably 
originated  (cf.  verse  7).  The  blessings  assigned  to  Joseph  are 
those  of  fertile  territory  (verses  13-16)  and  of  military  prowess 
(verse  17.  fin  Gen.  xlix.  23 f.,  Joseph  has  been  hard  pressed, 
but  has  prevailed.) 

Por  the  precious  thing^s :  elsewhere  '  choice  fruits ' 
(Song  of  Songs,  iv.  13,  16,  vii.  13)  ;  here  of  the  natural  gifts  on 
which  all  fertility  depends — sunshine,  rain,  and  dew.  Read  'from' 
instead  of '  for '  throughout ;  these  gifts  are  the  source  of  blessing. 

for  the  dew:  more  probably  'above,' as  in  the  related  passage, 


240  DEUTERONOMY  Sa.  14-17.     R? 

And  for  the  deep  that  coucheth  beneath, 

14  And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  fruits  of  the  sun, 
And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  growth  of  the 

moons, 

15  And  for  the  chief  things  of  the  ancient  mountains, 
And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  everlasting  hills, 

16  And  for  the  precious  things  of  the  earth  and  the 

fulness  thereof, 
And  the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush  : 
Let  the  blessing  come  upon  the  head  of  Joseph, 
And  upon  the  crown  of  the  head  of  him  ^  that  was 

separate  from  his  brethren. 

1 7  ^  The  firstling  of  his  bullock,  majesty  is  his  ; 

And  his  horns  are  the  horns  of  the  c  wild-ox  : 

*  Or,  that  is  prince  among  ^  Or,  His  firstling  bullock 

^  See  Num.  xxiii.  22. 


Gen.  xlix.  25  (cf.  Gen.  xxvii.  39),  which  gives  a  better  contrast 
with  '  beneath '  in  the  next  line. 

the  deep  that  coucheth  beneath  :  i.  e.  '  the  water  under  the 
earth'  (iv.  18,  note),  personified  as  a  crouching  monster,  like 
the  Babylonian  Tiamat  (Jastrow,  Bab.  Ass.  Rel.,  p.  411),  with 
which  name  the  Hebrew  word  for  '  deep '  {tehom)  is  connected. 

14.  the  gfrowth  of  the  moons:  *  the  produce  of  the  months,* 
i.  e.  of  successive  seasons. 

15.  for  the  chief  things :  <from  the  top'  (Heb.  'head') ;  the 
'  hill  country  of  Ephraim '  (Joshua  xvii.  15)  is  in  view,  whose  very 
summits  are  to  yield  their  tribute. 

16.  the  goodwill  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush :  Exod,  iii. 
2-4  ;  see  above  on  verse  2  for  the  force  of  *  dwelt.'  *  Good- will ' 
=  favour  (verse  23),  the  noun  corresponding  to  'accept'  in  verse  1 1. 

that  was  separate  from  his  brethren:  the  Heb.  word 
[naztr)  denotes  one  separated  religiously  (consecrated),  as  in  the 
meaning  '  Nazarite,'  or  as  a  '  prince  '  (Lam.  iv.  7,  R.V.  '  nobles ') ; 
hence  the  alternative  of  R.  V.  marg.,  which  is  preferable  here. 
The  last  two  lines  occur  in  Gen.  xlix.  26, 

17.  his  firstling  bnUock  (R.  V.  marg.)  ;  i.e.  Ephraim  (Gen. 
xlviii.  13-20). 

the  wild- ox  (Job  xxxix.  9-12) :  a  type  now  extinct  (Driver, 
note,  p.  407). 


DEUTERONOMY  33.  18-20.     R?  241 

With  them  he  shall  ^  push  the  peoples  all  of  them,  even 

the  ends  of  the  earth  :    . 
And  they  are  the  ten  thousands  of  Ephraim, 
And  they  are  the  thousands  of  Manasseh. 

And  of  Zebulun  he  said,  18 

Rejoice,  Zebulun,  in  thy  going  out ; 
And,  Issachar,  in  thy  tents. 

They  shall  call  the  peoples  unto  the  mountain ;  19 

There  shall  they  offer  sacrifices  of  righteousness  : 
For  they  shall  suck  the  abundance  of  the  seas, 
And  the  hidden  treasures  of  the  sand. 

And  of  Gad  he  said,  ao 

*  Or,  gore 


push,  (i  Kings  xxii.  11):  with  reference  to  the  military 
strength  of  Ephraim  (cf.  Ps.  xxii.  21,  xcii.  10). 

all  of  them,  &c.  :  better  as  a  parallel  clause,  '  Together  the 
ends  of  the  earth,'  i.  e.  remote  peoples. 

And  they  bis)  :  i.  e.  the  horns  ;  but  read,  with  the  versions, 
^they  '  (of  the  Josephites  in  general)  in  the  first  instance. 

18.  Ze"bulim  and  Issachar :  the  blessing  of  commercial  pros- 
perity. 

thy  ^oing'  out :  a  phrase  denoting  general  activity  (xxviii.  6\ 
here  probably  of  the  maritime  occupations  of  Zebulun  (Gen.  xlix. 
13),  v/hich  must  have  had  an  outlet  to  the  sea,  in  spite  of  Joshua 
xix.  10  f,,  which  defines  an  inland  territory  :  cf.  Judges  v.  i8. 

in  thy  tents:  i.  e.  at  home  (Joshua  xxii.  4  note)  :  cf.  Gen. 
xlix.  14,  15,  where  Issachar  is  blamed  for  lack  of  energy.  The 
contrast  here  may  be  merely  poetical. 

19.  call  the  peoples :  the  reference  is  probably  to  religious 
festivals  in  connexion  wilh  some  mountain  sanctuary  (Tabor? 
Carmel?',  with  which  fairs  were  joined,  as  at  Mecca  (Stade,  G.V.I.y 
i.  171).  To  these  other  neighbouring  peoples  (e.g.  the  Phoeni- 
cians) would  come.  The  tenses  here  should  be  frequentatives 
rather  than  futures :  '  they  call,'  &c. 

suck  the  abundance  of  the  seas :  see  on  verse  18  (Zebulun 's 
fishing  and  sea-carrying  trade). 

the  hidden  treasures  of  the  sand:  possibly  Issachar's 
manufacture  of  glass,  for  which  sand  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
'Akko  was  much  used  :  Josephus,  The  Jewish  War,  ii.  10.  2  :  see 
the  art.  <  Glass  '  in  D.B. 

20.  Gad:  settled  east  of  Jordan  (Joshua  xiii.  24-8);  cliarac- 


242  DEUTERONOMY  33.  21-23.     R? 

Blessed  be  he  that  enlargeth  Gad  : 
He  dwelleth  as  a  liopess, 

And  teareth  the  arm,  yea,  the  crown  of  the  head. 
a  r  And  he  ^  provided  the  first  part  for  himself, 

For  there  was  ^  the  lawgiver's  portion  reserved  ; 
And  he  came  ^  wif/i  the  heads  of  the  people. 
He  executed  the  justice  of  the  Lord, 
And  his  judgements  with  Israel. 

22  And  of  Dan  he  said, 
Dan  is  a  lion's  whelp, 

That  leapeth  forth  from  Bashan. 

23  And  of  Naphtali  he  said, 

*  Or,  chose     Heb.  sazu.  ^  Or,  a  ruler's  portion  <^  Or,  to 

terized  in  Gen.  xlix.  19  as  victorious  over  assailants  ;  famous  for 
warriors  (i  Chron.  xii.  8f.). 

he  that  enlargeth  Gad:  i.e.  Yahweh  (cf.  Gen.  ix.  27). 
There  may  be  a  reference  to  the  recovery  of  territory  lost  in  the 
Syrian  wars  (2  Kings  xiv.  25  f.). 

as  a  lioness  ;  cf.  Gen.  xlix.  9 ;  Ezek.  xix.  2  f. ;  Num.  xxiii.  24. 

21.  the  first  part :  the  territory  of  Gad  being  amongst  the  first 
to  be  occupied  by  Israel  (Num.  xxxii,  i  f.). 

the  lawgiver's  portion  :  *  the  commander's  portion '  (cf. 
R.  V.  marg. ;  Judges  v.  14,  R.  V.  '  governors  ') ;  possibly  with  refer- 
ence to  the  qualities  of  the  territory  as  rich  pasture-ground. 

And  he  came.  Cf.  Joshua  i.  12/.,  where  the  Gadites  join  in 
the  conquest  of  the  rest  of  Canaan. 

(with)  :  this  emendation  of  R.  V.  is  probably  the  best. 

Justice  .  .  .  judgrements  (ordinances)  :  i.  e.  he  did  his  duty 
in  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  according  to  the  revealed  purpose  of 
Yahweh.  The  precise  reference  may  be  either  to  the  discharge  of 
obligation  to  assist  the  other  tribes  (Num.  xxxii.  31  f.)  or  to  the 
execution  of  Yahvveh's  judgement  over  the  Canaanites  (Gen.  xv. 
16  :  cf.  Exod.  xxiii.  31-3). 

22.  Dan:  here  compared  to  the  whelp  of  a  Bashan  lion,  as  in 
Gen.  xlix.  17  to  a  serpent  surprising  horse  and  rider  by  the  way. 
The  reference  may  be  to  the  surprise  attack  made  by  the  Danites 
on  I.aish,  when  migrating  from  their  original  territory  (Joshua 
xix.  47  :  cf.  Judges  xviii.  27  f.)  ;  the  name  Laish,  meaning  '  lion,' 
may  also  have  suggested  the  use  of  the  particular  figure. 

23.  Naphtali:  (Joshua  xix.  32-9)  elsewhere  compared  with  'a 
hind  let  loose'  (Gen.  xlix.  21). 


DEUTERONOMY  33.  24-27.     R?  243 

O  Naphtali,  satisfied  with  favour, 

And  full  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  : 

Possess  thou  the  ^  west  and  the  south. 

And  of  Asher  he  said,  *4 

Blessed  be  Asher  ^  with  children  ; 
Let  him  be  acceptable  unto  his  brethren, 
And  let  him  dip  his  foot  in  oil. 

Thy  c  bars  shall  be  iron  and  brass ;  25 

And  as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  ^  strength  be. 

There  is  none  like  unto  God,  O  Jeshurun,  26 

Who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  for  thy  help. 
And  in  his  excellency  on  the  skies. 
The  eternal  God  is  fky  dwelling  place,  27 

^  Or,  sea  ^  Or,  above  sons         *^  Or,  shoes         ^  Or,  resi 

Or,  security 


satisfied  with  favour :  i.  e.  that  of  Yahweh  (verse  16,  '  good 
will '),  with  reference  to  the  fertility  of  the  district  (Upper  Galilee) 
occupied  by  this  tribe. 

the  west :  rather  (R.  V.  marg.)  *  the  sea'  (of  Gennesareth', 
on  the  west  of  which  the  territory  of  Naphtali  extended  south- 
wards. 

24.  Asher :  here  and  in  Gen.  xlix.  20  the  meaning  of  the  name 
(;  fortunate,'  Gen.  xxx.  13)  is  in  view.  The  territory  of  Asher  lay 
nominally  along  the  sea-coast,   between   Carmel  and  Phoenicia 

Joshua  xix.  24-31).     See  map  for  portion  actually  occupied, 
with  children :  R.  V,  marg.  is  preferable  (cf.  Judges  v.  24). 
dip  his  foot  in  oil :  Galilee  was  famous  for  its  olive-trees. 

25.  bars  :  or  bolts,  v/ith  reference  to  defence  against  enemies, 
possibly  in  view  of  Asher's  position  in  the  far  north. 

strength :  so  the  versions,  but  the  Hebrew  word  is  unknown. 
May  Asher's  strength  to  resist  its  enemies  never  decline. 

26.  Conchisioit.  Israel's  God  is  unique,  the  abiding  source  of 
its  security  and  prosperity,  and  of  its  victory  over  enemies. 

like  unto  God,  O  Jeshurun :  so  the  Hebrew  vowel-points  ; 
but  we  should  doubtless  read  with  the  versions,  *  like  the  God  of 
Jeshurun.'     Cf.  verse  5,  xxxii.  15, 

rideth,  &c.  Pss.  xviii.  10  f.,  Ixviii.  33;  Isa.  xix.  i;  note 
that  the  theophany  of  verses  2-5  is  here  resumed. 

excellency :  '  exaltation  '  or  *  dignity.' 

R   2 


244       DEUTEPvONOMY  33.  28—34.  i.     R?  P 

And  underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms  : 
And  he  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  thee, 
And  said,  Destroy. 

28  And  Israel  dwelleth  in  safety, 
The  fountain  of  Jacob  alone, 
In  a  land  of  corn  and  wine  ; 
Yea,  his  heavens  drop  down  dew. 

29  Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel : 

Who  is  like  unto  thee,  a  people  saved  by  the  Lord, 

The  shield  of  thy  help. 

And  that  is  the  sword  of  thy  excellency  ! 

And  thine  enemies  shall  ^  submit  themselves  unto 

thee; 
And  thou  shalt  tread  upon  their  high  places. 
34      [P]  And  Moses  went  up  from  the  plains  of  Moab  unto 

*  Or,  yield  feigned  obedience 

everlasting'  arms:  which  do  not  grow  weary  (cf.  Hos.xi.  3, 
&c.). 

28.  The  fountain  of  Jacol) :  the  succession  of  generations, 
streaming  forth  (cf  Isa.  xlviii.  i ;  Ps.  Ixviii.  26)  in  isolated  security 
('alone  '). 

dew :    cf.  Gen.  xxvii.  28 ;    the   dew   is  heavy  and  of  great 
importance  in  Palestine,  because  of  the  summer  drought. 

29.  A  unique  people  through  a  unique  God. 

saved :  i.  e.  as  the  context  shows,  in  battle,  with  no  moral  or 
spiritual  reference. 

submit  themselves  :  read  as  R.  V.  marg. 
tread,  &c.  :  see  on  xxxii.  13. 

xxxiv.  The  Death  0/ Moses.  Moses,  after  viewing  the  Promised 
Land  from  the  top  of  Pisgah,  dies  there  according  to  Yahweh's 
decree.  His  unique  personality  and  place  in  the  history  of 
Israel. 

1.  the  plains  of  Moab:  these  'steppes'  are  named  in  Num. 
xxxiii.  48  as  the  final  station  in  the  wanderings  of  Israel.  *  It  was 
probably  the  well-watered  glen  on  the  north  of  the  Neba-Siaghah 
ridge,  the  present  Wady  'Ayun  Musa,  which  Israel  descended 
and  camped  in  '  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  564).  The  term  '  steppes ' — charac- 
teristic of  P — here  denotes  the  eastern  part  of  the  Jordan  plain, 
to  the  north  of  the  Dead  Sea,  opposite  Jericho. 


DEUTERONOMY  34.  2-4.     P  JE  245 

mount  Nebo,  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,  that  is  over  against 
Jericho.     [JE]  And  the  Lord  shewed  him  all  the  land 
of  Gilead,  unto  Dan ;  and  all  Naphtali,  and  the  land  of  2 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the  land  of  Judah,  unto 
the  ^  hinder  sea ;  and  the  South,  and  the  Plain  of  the  3 
valley   of  Jericho   the   city   of  palm    trees,  unto   Zoar. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  This  is  the  land  which  4 
*  That  is,  western. 


unto  moxint  Nebo,  to  the  top  of  Pis^h  :  cf.  xxxii.  49  :  the 
former  name  of  the  mountain  appears  to  be  that  of  P,  the  latter 
that  of  D-  (iii.  27  here  combined  editorial!}'.  The  headland  in 
question  is  usually  identified  with  that  which  now  bears  the  name 
'Neba,'  nearly  opposite  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
between  Heshbon  and  Medeba  (G.  A.  Smith,  in  H.G.H.L.,  p.  563, 
from  whom  is  taken  the  following  description  of  the  actual  view 
from  the  summit;  :  '  All  Western  Palestine  is  in  sight ;  only  the 
hither  side  of  the  Jordan  Valley  is  still  invisible,  and  north  and 
south  the  view  is  hampered  by  the  near  hills.'  [From  a  second 
summit]  *  The  whole  of  the  Jordan  Valley  is  now  open  to  you, 
from  Engedi,  beyond  which  the  mists  become  impenetrable,  to 
where,  on  the  north,  the  hills  of  Gilead  seem  to  meet  those  of 
Ephraim.  The  Jordan  flows  below  :  Jericho  is  visible  beyond. 
Over  Gilead,  it  is  said.  Hermon  can  be  seen  in  clear  weather,  but 
the  heat  hid  it  from  us.' 

shewed  him  all  the  land  :  not  *  the  land  of  Gilead  * ;  all  that 
follows  '  land '  is  in  apposition  to  it  (i.  e.  *  even  Gilead,'  &c.). 
Gilead  is  the  land  due  north  of  Pisgah,  as  far  as  the  R.  Hieromax 
(iii.  10} ;  Dan  (Joshua  xix.  47)  lies  at  the  foot  of  Hermon  (beyond 
the  range  of  actual  vision). 

2.  iraphtali  in  the  north  of  Canaan,  beyond  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
(xxxiii.  23). 

the  hinder  sea:  i.  e.  the  Mediterranean  (xi.  24  and  note),  not 
actually  visible  from  Neba. 

3.  the  South :  see  on  i.  7. 

the  Plain :  Heb,  '  the  Round.'  i.  e.  of  the  Jordan  Valley 
north  of  the  Dead  Sea.  With  this,  the  valley  of  Jericho  is  in 
apposition  (delete  'of    ;  on  the  latter,  see  on  Joshua  ii.  i. 

Zoar :  site  uncertain  ;  it  may  have  been  at  either  the  north 
or  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea :  cf.  H.G.H.L.^  p.  505  f.,  where  the 
latter  is  preferred. 

4.  which  Z  sware :  see  on  i.  8  :  cf.  Exod.  xxxiii.  i. 
According  to   the  Jewish  commentator  Rashi  (ed.  Berliner, 


246  DEUTERONOMY  34.  5-9.     JE  P 

I  sware  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob, 
saying,  I  will  give  it  unto  thy  seed  :  I  have  caused  thee 
to  see  it  with  thine  eyes,  but  thou  shalt  not  go  over 

5  thither.  So  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  died  there 
in  the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

6  And  ^  he  buried  him  in  the  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab 
over  against  Beth-peor :    but  no  man  knoweth  of  his 

7  sepulchre  unto  this  day.  [P]  And  Moses  was  an  hundred 
and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died :    his  eye  was  not 

8  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated.  And  the  children  of 
Israel  wept  for  Moses  in  the  plains  of  Moab  thirty 
days :  so  the  days  of  weeping  in  the  mourning  for  Moses 

9  were  ended.  And  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  was  full  of  the 
spirit  of  wisdom ;   for  Moses  had  laid  his  hands  upon 

^  Or,  Ae  was  buried 

p.  362)  the  vision  granted  to  Moses  included  the  episodes  of 
Israel's  future  history  ;  so  that  Moses  saw  Samson  and  Gideon, 
Deborah  and  David,  and  all  the  national  heroes  taking  up  his 
unfinished  task  of  leadership,  at  their  appointed  place  and  time. 

5.  the  servant  of  Yahweh  :  Exod.  xiv.  31  ;  Num.  xii.  7  f.  (JE), 
and  often  in  Joshua  (R^). 

according*  to  the  word  of  Yahweh.  The  Hebrew  for  *  word  ' 
here  is  *  mouth,'  which  explains  Rashi's  expressive  comment,  *  by 
a  kiss '  (the  Rabbinic  legend  being  that  Moses  died  by  Yahweh's 
kiss) . 

6.  he  buried  him  :  i.  e.  Yahweh  buried  Moses  (R.  V.  marg.  = 
one  buried  him,  a  less  probable  rendering  here). 

in  the  valley,  &c.  :  cf.  iii.  29  (note). 

A  legend  with  reference  to  this  event  (taken  from  the  apocryphal 
'  Assumption  of  Moses  ')  is  mentioned  in  Jude  9. 

*7.  an  hundred  and  twenty  years  old:  as  in  xxxi.  2.  This 
traditional  number  is  an  inference  from  a  life  of  three  generations 
(Exod.  vii,  7  :  cf.  Acts  vii.  23,  30). 

nor  his  natural  force  abated :  Heb.  '  his  moisture  had  not 
fled ' ;  not  the  lymph  (whose  exudation  is  indeed  less  in  age  than 
in  youth),  which  was  unknown  to  the  ancients,  but  some  more 
primitive  conception  of  *  life-juice,'  whose  absence  might  be 
suggested  by  the  wrinkled  skin  of  old  age. 

8.  thirty  days:  so  for  Aaron,  Num.  xx.  29  (P). 

9.  the  spirit  of  wisdom  :  (Isa.  xi.  2) ;  Hebrew  thought  ascribed 


DEUTERONOMY  34.  10-12.     P  R°  247 

him :   and  the  children  of  Israel  hearkened  unto  him, 
and  did  as  the  Lord  commanded  Moses.     [R^]  And  10 
there  hath  not  arisen  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto 
Moses,  whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face;   in  all  the  11 
signs  and  the  wonders,  which  the  Lord  sent  him  to  do 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  to  Pharaoh,  and  to  all  his  servants, 
and  to  all  his  land  ;  and  in  all  the  mighty  hand^  and  in  12 
all  the  great  terror,  which  Moses  wrought  in  the  sight  of 
all  Israel. 

any  remarkable  characteristic  of  mind  or  body  to  indwelling 
spirit  {mach).  In  this  case  it  is  mediated  by  the  physical  contact 
of  the  hands  of  Moses  (Num.  xxvii.  18-23^. 

10.  a  prophet:  cf.  xviii.  15.  In  that  promised  line  of  prophets, 
says  the  Deuteronomic  redactor,  the  first  has  been  unequalled  ; 
he  held  direct  intercourse  (Exod.  xxxiii.  11  ;  Num.  xii.  6-8)  with 
Yahweh. 

11,  12.  in:  i.e.  in  respect  of  the  following  points  (he  was 
unequalled).  The  two  verses  were  probably  added  by  a  later 
writer,  since  they  involve  a  different  and  more  external  point  of 
view  from  that  of  verse  10,  and  the  grammatical  connexion  is 
loose.  For  the  language,  see  iv.  34,  vi.  22,  vii.  19,  xi.  2,  xxvi.  8, 
xxix.  2. 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 

INTRODUCTION 


THE   BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 

I.  Contents  and  Relation  to  the  Pentateuch. 

1.  The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  is  a  sermon ;  the  Book 
of  Joshua  the  preacher's  illustrations  collected  into  an 
appendix."  It  describes  the  Conquest  and  Division  of  the 
Promised  Land  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Deuteronomic 
preacher,  six  or  seven  centuries  after  the  event.  It  reflects 
actual  history  (§  iii)  so  far  as  this  seemed  to  enforce 
the  doctrines  of  that  seventh-century  revival  of  religion, 
whose  chief  monument  is  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy. 
But  it  draws  implicit  inferences  as  to  the  course  of  events, 
which  are  not  distinguished  from  the  use  of  earlier  records 
by  any  explicit  indication. 

2.  The  name  carried  by  this  book,  as  by  the  Books  of 
'  Samuel,'  is  taken  from  one  of  its  prominent  characters, 
and  does  not  imply  the  authorship  of  Joshua.  There  is 
no  intrinsic  or  extrinsic  ground  for  connecting  the  book  as 
a  written  narrative  with  Joshua  or  any  of  his  con- 
temporaries (on  xxiv.  26  see  the  note).  As  the  *  Book  of 
Joshua,'  it  narrates  events  in  the  history  of  Israel  from 
the  death  of  Moses  (i.  i :  cf.  Deut.  xxxiv.  9)  to  the  death 
of  Joshua  himself  (xxiv.  29 :  cf.  Judges  i.  l).  These  events 
fall  into  two  groups,  coinciding  with  the  two  halves  of  the 
book  ;  viz.  (A)  the  Conquest  of  Canaan  (chaps,  i-xii),  and 
(B)  the  Division  of  the  Land,  with  a  related  appendix 
(chaps,  xiii-xix,  xx-xxiv). 

(A)  Joshua,  as  the  authorized  successor  of  Moses,  receives 
the  promise  of  similar  divine  aid  (i.  1-9),  whereupon  he  pre- 
pares for  the  passage  of  the  Jordan  (i.  10,  ii),  and  enlists  the 
help  of  the  tribes  already  settled  on  its  eastern  side  (i.  12-18). 
Part  of  this  preparation  is  to  send  spies  into  Jericho,  the  chief 
city  opposite  ;  these  men  find  shelter  in  the  house  of  Rahab, 


252  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

who  also  enables  them  to  escape  when  their  presence  is 
suspected  (chap.  ii).  On  receipt  of  the  information  brought, 
Israel  crosses  the  Jordan  dryshod,  through  the  miraculous 
withdrawal  of  its  waters,  and  a  suitable  memorial  is  erected  at 
Gilgal,  the  first  camp  west  of  the  Jordan  (chaps,  iii,  iv).  Here, 
also,  the  males  of  Israel  are  circumcised,  and  the  Passover 
celebrated  (v.  1-12).  Joshua  sees  in  a  vision  the  captain  of 
Yahweh's  host  (v.  13-15),  and  is  instructed  as  to  the  capture 
of  Jericho  (vi.  1-5).  Accordingl}',  the  ark  is  carried  in  solemn 
procession,  and  with  armed  escort,  round  the  walls  of  Jericho, 
for  seven  days,  daily,  and  on  the  seventh  day,  seven  times. 
Then,  at  the  final  blast  of  the  priests'  trumpets,  and  at  the 
shout  of  the  people,  the  walls  of  Jericho  fall  down,  and  the 
city  is  taken  (vi.  6-20),  to  be  *  devoted,'  except  for  Rahaband 
her  family,  to  Yahweh  (vi.  21-7}.  But  this  first  miraculous 
success  is  followed  by  the  repulse,  with  loss,  of  an  attack  on 
Ai;  when  Joshua,  and  the  representatives  of  Israel,  accuse 
Yahweh  of  abandoning  His  people,  they  are  told  that  this  is 
due  to  the  secret  reservation  from  Yahweh  of  part  of  the  spoil 
of  Jericho,  and  are  bidden  to  find  the  culprit  (vii.  1-15).  This 
is  done,  by  the  test  of  the  sacred  lot,  and  Achan,  the  thief,  and 
his  family  are  stoned  (with  their  possessions)  and  burnt  (vii. 
16-26).  The  help  of  Yahweh  is  now  renewed,  and  Ai  is  taken  by 
the  stratagem  of  apparent  flight,  and  an  ambush ;  its  spoil,  in 
this  case,  falls  to  Israel  (viii.  1-29).  The  scene  then  abruptly 
changes  to  Shechem,  in  territory  as  yet  unconquered,  where 
an  altar  is  built,  and  a  solemn  ceremonial  observed,  according 
to  the  command  of  Moses  (viii.  30-5).  We  return  from  this 
digression,  with  equal  abruptness,  to  the  camp  at  Gilgal, 
whither  comes  a  deputation  from  Gibeon,  seeking  alliance  with 
Israel,  and  obtaining  it  by  the  false  representation  that  they 
live  in  a  far  country  ;  but  when  the  ruse  employed  is  dis- 
covered, the  would-be  allies  are  degraded  to  subjects  (chap.  ix). 
The  alliance  itself  provokes  an  attack  on  Gibeon  from  a 
confederation  of  five  kings  of  South  Palestine,  headed  by 
Adoni-zedek  of  Jerusalem  ;  Israel  marches  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged  city,  and  puts  the  assailants  to  disastrous  flight,  by 
the  miraculous  aid  of  Yahweh  (x.  1-15).  The  five  kings  are 
taken  and  killed  (x.  16-27).     There  follows  a  list  of  six  cities 


INTRODUCTION  253 

taken  and  destroyed  (x.  28-39),  and  a  summary  statement  of 
the  complete  conquest  of  South  Palestine  (x.  40-3).  A 
similar  coalition  of  four  northern  kings,  headed  by  Jabin  of 
Hazor,  is  defeated  by  the  Waters  of  Merom,  and  their  subjects 
are  similarly  'devoted'  to  Yahweh  (xi.  1-15).  Thus,  in  two 
great  battles,  the  whole  territory  has  been  conquered  (xi. 
16-20),  not  excluding  that  of  the  Anakim  (xi.  21,  22),  and  the 
way  is  clear  for  its  division  (xi.  23).  A  list  is  given  of  thirty- 
one  conquered  kings  (chap.  xii). 

(B)  The  second  half  of  the  book  opens  with  a  review  of 
neighbouring  territory,  as  yet  unconquered,  and  with  the 
command  of  Yahweh  to  Joshua  to  allot  the  land  to  the  tribes 
as  yet  unsettled  (xiii.  1-7).  An  account  is  given  of  the  terri- 
tory east  of  Jordan  (xiii.  8-14),  already  assigned  to  Reuben 
(xiii.  15-23),  to  Gad  (xiii.  24-8),  and  to  half  Manasseh  (xiii. 
29-31).  As  Moses  had  distributed  this  eastern  territory,  so 
Eieazar  and  Joshua  distribute  the  western  to  the  nine  and  a 
half  remaining  tribes,  excluding  Levi  (xiii.  32 — xiv.  5).  An 
appeal  made  by  Caleb  for  the  territory  of  Hebron  promised 
him  by  Yahweh  is  granted  by  Joshua  (xiv.  6-15).  The 
borders  of  the  territory  of  Judah  are  defined  (xv.  1-12). 
Caleb  conquers  Hebron,  and  Othniel  conquers  Debir  (xv. 
13-19).  There  follows  a  catalogue  of  the  cities  belonging  to 
Judah  (xv.  20-63),  and  the  definition  of  the  territory  of  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh  (xvi.  i — xvii.  13),  some  exceptions  to  complete 
occupation  being  noted.  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  complain 
that  their  territory  is  too  small,  and  are  encouraged  to  acquire 
more  (xvii.  14-18).  Before  we  pass  to  the  territory  assigned 
to  the  remaining  seven  tribes,  we  hear  of  a  solemn  assembly 
at  Shiloh,  from  which  a  commission  of  twenty-one  are  sent  to 
register  the  territory,  divided  subsequently  by  lot  (xviii.  i-io). 
The  territory  of  Benjamin  is  defined  (xviii.  11-20)  and  its 
cities  catalogued  (xviii.  21-8).  The  Simeonites  inherit 
certain  cities  in  the  midst  of  the  territory  of  Judah  (xix.  1-9), 
Zebulun  (xix.  10-16),  Issachar  (xix.  17-23),  Asher  (xix.  24- 
3i\  Naphtali  (xix.  32-9%  and  Dan  (xix.  40-6)  are  given 
their  portions,  though  the  Danites  subsequently  migrate  to  the 
extreme  north  (xix.  47,  48).  Here  the  account  of  the 
division  of  the  land  concludes,  with  a  reference  to  Timnath- 


254  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

Serah  as  Joshua's  own  share  (xix.  49-51).  There  follows 
what  may  be  called  an  appendix,  narrating  the  appointment  of 
six  cities  of  refuge  (chap,  xx)  and  of  the  Levitical  cities 
(chap,  xxi),  the  dismissal  of  those  from  eastern  tribes  who  had 
helped  in  the  conquest  of  western  territory  (xxii.  1-8},  a 
dispute  between  eastern  and  western  tribes  over  the  building 
of  an  altar  (xxii.  9-34),  and  two  farewell  addresses  of  Joshua, 
distinct  and  parallel  (chaps,  xxiii,  xxiv),  the  second  culminat- 
ing in  a  covenant  between  Israel  and  Yahweh  made  at 
Shechem  (xxiv.  25-8).  The  book  closes  with  notes  on  the 
deaths  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar,  and  on  the  burial  of  Joseph's 
bones  at  Shechem  (xxiv.  29-33). 

3.  From  the  above  review  it  is  plain  that  the  Book  of 
Joshua  is  closely  connected  with  the  Pentateuch,  whose 
proper  sequel  it  forms.  This  applies  in  general  to  the 
attainment  of  that  Promised  Land  which  Moses  might 
view  from  Pisgah  only ;  but  it  applies  also  to  many  of 
the  details  (e.  g.  viii,  30  f.),  for  which  reference  must  be 
made  to  the  notes.  Further,  the  literary  sources '  of  the 
book  are  the  direct  continuation  of  those  of  the  Pentateuch, 
and  for  this  reason  scholars  speak  of  the  '  Hexateuch,' 
since  no  line  is  drawn  for  literary  criticism  at  the  death  of 
Moses.  As  a  whole,  however,  the  Book  of  Joshua  was 
never  incorporated  with  the  *  Books  of  Moses,'  which 
stood  for  the  Jew  on  a  unique  level  of  inspiration,  and 
constitute  the  first  of  the  three  canonical  sections  into 
which  the  Hebrew  scriptures  are  divided.  'Joshua' 
belongs  to  the  second  of  these,  and  to  its  first  half,  known 
as  the  'former  prophets,'  the  other  members  of  this  sub-sec- 
tion being  Judges,  i  and  2  Samuel,  I  and  2  Kings.  This 
different  classification  is  reflected  in  a  diflferent  treatment 
of  its  text ;  the  Greek  translation  of  the  LXX  (which  varies 
more  from  the  Hebrew  than  in  the  case  of  any  book  of  the 
Pentateuch,  except  Exod.  xxxv-xl)  shows  that  the  text  was 
not  finally  fixed  before  200  B.  c.  '^ 

*  i.  e.  the  documents  J,  E,  P. 
2  Cf.  Dillmann,  A^.  D.J.,  p.  690. 


INTRODUCTION  255 

II.  Sources  and  Composition. 
I.  The  evidence  for  regarding  the  Book  of  Joshua  as  not 
written  by  a  single  hand,  or  in  a  single  generation,  is  of 
the  same  character  as  that  which  has  led  to  the  analysis 
of  the  Pentateuch  into  several  component  documents  ^ ;  it 
arises  partly  from  the  subject-matter,  and  partly  from  the 
language  employed.  The  book  contains  duplicate  and 
independent  accounts  of  the  same  event,  as  when  Joshua 
gives  two  parallel  farewell  addresses  (chaps,  xxiii,  xxiv). 
Within  what  lies  before  us  as  a  single  narrative  there 
are  sometimes  clear  traces  of  the  combination  of  two 
differing  accounts  ;  thus,  in  the  story  of  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan,  Joshua  is  said  to  have  set  up  twelve  memorial 
stones,  both  in  the  bed  of  the  river  (iv.  9)  and  also  at 
Gilgal  (iv.  20),  whilst  the  people  who  have  crossed  the 
river  once  in  iii.  17  are  said  to  cross  it  again  in  iv.  11. 
Sometimes  two  statements  directly  exclude  each  other: 
the  king  of  Hebron  who  has  been  killed  in  x.  26  is  again 
killed  in  x.  37,  whilst  Hebron  itself,  there  said  to  have 
been  taken,  and  to  have  had  all  its  inhabitants  killed,  is 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  in  xiv.  12,  and  has  to  be 
taken  by  Caleb  in  xv.  14.  It  is  less  easy  to  illustrate  the 
hnguistic  evidence  for  the  division  of  sources,  especially 
since  its  real  force  is  cumulative,  and  the  quotation  of 
isolated  words  or  phrases,  as  characteristic  of  a  particular 
writer,  is  apt  to  misrepresent  the  weight  of  the  argument. 
But  when  we  find  (xxii.  30)  the  word  *  congregation '  \ 
applied  to  Israel,  which  occurs  in  124  previous  instances,! 
and  always  amongst  the  priestly  writers  grouped  under 
the  letter  P,  the  probability  is  sufficiently  great  that  it  has 
been  written  in  the  125th  case  by  a  writer  of  the  same 
school.  A  broader  test  of  the  same  kind  may  easily  be 
applied.  Let  any  one  read  with  attention  to  language 
and  expression  Joshua  i.  3-9  (cf.  Deut.  xxxi.  1-8),  and 

'  For  these,  and  the  general  meaning  of  the  symbols  J,  E, 
and  P,  see  the  Century  Bible,  'Genesis,'  pp.  22  40,  or,  more 
briefly,  p.  53  of  the  present  volume. 


2S6  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

then  Joshua  xxi.  1-42  (cf.  Num.  xxxv.  1-8),  and  he  can 
hardly  fail  to  realize  something  of  the  difference  between 
Deuteronomistic  and  priestly  writers  respectively. 

2.  The  careful  reader  of  the  first  half  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua  (chaps,  i-xii)  will  notice  that  it  opens  and  closes 
with  passages  closely  akin  in  language  and  subject-matter 

\  to  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  (i.  3-9,  12-18 ;  xi.  10— xii. 

•  24).  He  will  also  find  similar  strongly-marked  writing 
occurring  at  intervals  throughout  the  intervening  chapters, 
either  in  expansions  of  the  context  (ii.  10,  11)  or  in  the 
addition  of  independent  sections  (viii.  30-5).  The  same 
kind  of  writing  is  found  in  the  second  half  of  the  book 
also,  though  to  a  much  less  extent  (e.  g.  xxi.  43-xxii.  8). 
These  passages  are  denoted  in  the  present  edition  by 
the  symbol  R^,  because  their  predominant  character  is 
that  of  a  redactor  (R),  writing  in  the  spirit  and  language  of 
the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  (D).  Some  of  these  passages 
may,  of  course,  draw  their  facts  from  documents  prior  to 
the  Deuteronomic  age,  but,  for  the  purposes  of  exact 
historical  research,  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  statements 
made  at  various  times  after  the  publication  of  Deutero- 
nomy, in  621  B.C. 

3.  The  second  half  of  the  book  is  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  first.  Its  central  feature  (chaps,  xv-xix)  consists 
of  formal  definition  of  territory,  and  unrelieved  catalogues 
of  cities.  Further,  there  is  an  account  of  cities  of  refuge 
(chap,  xx),  and  of  Levitical  cities  (chap,  xxi),  both  of 
which  connect  with  previous  ordinances  of  the  Priestly 
Code  (Num.  xxxv).  We  notice  also  that  the  division  of 
territory  is  not  made  by  Joshua  alone,  but  by  Eleazar  the 
priest  and  Joshua  (xiv.  i,  xvii.  4,  xix.  51,  xxi.  i).  This 
prominence  given  to  priestly  interests,  and  this  detailed 
attention  to  statistical  information,*  are  well-known 
marks  of  the  priestly  writers,  designated  by  the  symbol 

'  Note  also  the  formal  superscriptions  and  subscriptions  to 
sections  (xiii.  32,  xiv.  i  f,,  xviii.  i,  xix.  51)  and  to  sub-sections 
(xiii.  23,  &c.). 


INTRODUCTION  257 

P.  Their  interest  was  much  less  in  simple  and  descrip- 
tive narrative,  except  when  some  institution,  &c.,  had  to  be 
described  or  explained  ;  the  greater  part  of  the  narrative 
of  this  document  appears  to  have  been  an  abstract  or 
connecting  outline.  Accordingly,  it  need  not  surprise  us 
that,  whilst  the  document  P  forms  the  distinctive  feature 
of  the  second  half  of  this  book,  dealing  with  the  division 
of  the  land,  it  has  little  to  contribute  towards  the  narra- 
tive of  the  conquest  in  the  first  half.  But,  where  it  does 
appear  there,  it  is  characteristically  to  describe  the 
celebration  of  the  first  Passover  in  Canaan  (v.  10-12), 
and  to  emphasize  the  leading  part  of  '  the  princes  of  the 
congregation  *  (a  priestly  phrase)  in  the  negotiations  with 
the  Gibeonites  (ix.  17-21).  The  systematic  document 
thus  utilized  in  the  compilation  of  the  book  is  of  post- 
exilic  origin,  and  contains  strata  of  various  dates. 

4.  The  remainder  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  (excluding 
the  parts  assigned  to  R^  and  P,  as  above)  is  of  quite 
different  character  from  the  editorial  expansions  and 
summaries  of  the  Deuteronomist,  and  the  tabulated  in- 
formation of  the  priestly  writer.  It  gives  us  the  account 
of  the  Conquest  of  Canaan,  and  describes  in  vivid  and 
picturesque  narrative  the  adventures  of  the  spies  in 
Jericho,  the  miraculous  dry-shod  journey  across  the  bed 
of  the  Jordan,  the  vision  seen  by  Joshua,  the  capture  of 
Jericho,  the  story  of  Achan's  theft,  and  its  disastrous 
sequel,  first  for  Israel,  and  then  for  himself,  the  renewed 
attempt  on  and  victory  over  Ai,  the  Gibeonite  incident, 
the  battle  of  Gibeon,  in  which  the  southern  coalition  was 
overthrown,  and  (much  more  briefly)  the  overthrow  of  the 
northern  kings.  These  incidents  form  the  bulk  of  the 
narrative  in  the  first  half  of  the  book.  They  resemble 
the  JE  narrative  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  it  is  natural  to 
regard  them  as  the  continuation  of  that  document.  That 
the  document  from  which  they  are  taken  is  itself  com- 
posite is  indicated  by  the  narrative  itself,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  accounts  of  Rahab  (chap,  ii),  the  passage  of  the 


258  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

Jordan  (chaps,  iii,  iv),  the  fall  of  Jericho  (chap,  vi),  the 
capture  of  Ai  (chap,  viii),  the  ruse  of  Gibeon  (chap.  ix). 
But  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  analyse  this  document 
into  its  component  parts  than  is  the  case  with  the 
similar  composite  narrative  of  the  Pentateuch.  The 
narrative  has  passed  through  the  hands  of  three 
editors,  Rje,  R^^,  and  R^,  who  appear  to  have  used 
greater  editorial  freedom  than  in  regard  to  the  more 
sacred  Mosaic  records.  Some  scholars,  therefore, 
whilst  recognizing  the  duality  of  source,  do  not  attempt 
a  further  analysis  of  JE  into  J  and  E  (so  Driver, 
G.  A.  Smith),  whilst  others  (Holzinger,  Bennett, 
Oxf.  Hex.)  think  such  an  analysis  is  practicable. 
In  the  present  edition,  the  above  narrative  has  been 
indicated  simply  as  JE,  though  attention  is  called  in  the 
notes  to  some  of  the  evidence  for  composite  authorship. 
But  in  the  second  half  of  the  book  the  position  is 
different.  We  have  a  series  of  remarkable  fragments 
(xiii.  13,  XV.  14-19,  63,  xvi.  lo,  xvii.  11-18,  xix.  47)  which 
are  closely  related  to,  and  sometimes  verbally  identical 
with,  passages  in  the  first  chapter  of  Judges.  These  give 
us  a  different  conception  of  the  occupation  of  territory 
from  that  adopted  by  the  book  as  a  whole,  and  appear  to 
form  part  of  the  narrative  of  J,  the  earliest  of  the  sources 
underlying  the  book.  Besides  these  important  fragments, 
to  be  considered  in  the  next  section,  we  have  the  second 
farewell  address  of  Joshua  (xxiv.  1-25)  belonging  to  E, 
as  does  the  first  to  R^. 

5.  The  main  stages  in  the  compilation  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua  were  probably  the  following.  The  narratives  of  J  and 
E,  as  combined  by  their  Redactor  (RJ^),  were  used  by  R^, 
though  J  may  have  been  used  apart  from  the  combined 
form.  R^  selected,  expanded,  and  added  to  the  narrative 
of  the  Conquest,  so  producing  a  Deuteronomistic  Book  of 
Joshua.  The  third  redactional  stage  came  when  this  was 
combined  with  P  by  the  Priestly  Redactor,  R^.  In  this 
last  the  procedure  appears  to  have  been  the  opposite  to 


INTRODUCTION  259 

that  adopted  for  the  Pentateuch.  *  The  chronological 
articulation  from  Gen.  i  to  Deut.  xxxiv.  7  is  here  entirely 
lacking  ...  P  is  inserted  into  JED,  whereas  in  the 
Pentateuch  JED  is  fitted  into  P.'  ^ 


III.    The  History  of  the  Conquest. 

I.  The  literary  elements  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  now 
lie  before  us  in  broad  outline,  viz.  the  work  of  J,  of  the 
united  JE,  of  the  editorial  Rd,  and  of  P.  What  light 
does  this  analysis  throw  on  the  chief  problem  raised  by 
the  book— the  history  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan  by 
Israel  ? 

(a)  The  fragments  of  J  (see  Introd.  ii.  4)  are  admittedly 
our  oldest  document.  They  tell  us  that  Geshur  and 
Maacath  were  not  occupied  by  Israel  (xiii.  13) ;  that 
Caleb,  acting  independently,  took  Hebron,  and  his  ally, 
Othniel,  took  Debir  (xv.  14-19)  ;  that  Jerusalem  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  Jebusites  (xv.  63),  Gezer  was  not 
occupied  (xvi.  10),  nor  the  line  of  important  cities  from 
Beth-shean  across  the  plain  of  Jezreel  westwards  (xvii. 
11-13).  The  Josephites  complain  of  being  crowded  into 
too  narrow  a  territory  by  the  Canaanites  (xvii.  14-18)  ; 
Dan,  similarly  oppressed,  seeks  new  territory  in  the 
extreme  north  (xix.  47).  Thus  the  earliest  account  we 
possess  of  the  Conquest  suggests  that  it  was  but  very 
partially  achieved,  and  that,  so  far  as  it  was  achieved,  it  \ 
was  the  result  of  independent  tribal  warfare,  rather  than 
of  a  national  invasion,  with  conclusive  campaigns  under 
a  single  leader.  This  impression  is  corroborated  by  the 
additional   portions  of  the    same  document  which    are 

*  Oxford  Hexateiich,  ii.  p.  315.  The  relation  of  the  Priestly 
and  Deuteronomistic  redactions  is  disputed  :  for  another  view, 
see  G.  A.  Smith  in  D.B.,  ii.  p.  784.  Steuernagel  argues  for  a 
different  view  of  the  whole  process  ;  he  thinks  that  a  priestly 
redactor  added  the  JE  portions  to  an  already  existent  combina- 
tion of  D  and  P. 

S    2 


26o  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

found  in  Judges  i.  i— ii.  5.  Here  we  read  of  an  independent 
invasion  by  Judah  and  Simeon  (verses  1-7),  of  Kenite 
movements  from  Jericho  (verse  16),  of  a  Josephite 
occupation  of  the  Bethel  district  (verses  22-6),  and  of 
various  tribal  settlements  among  the  Canaanite  popula- 
tion (verse  27  f.).  Thus  the  history  of  the  Conquest 
according  to  J  is  that  *  the  tribes  invade  the  land  singly, 
or  as  they  are  united  by  common  interest ;  they  fight  for 
their  own  hand  with  varying  success,  or  settle  peaceably 
among  the  older  population.  The  larger  cities  with  few 
exceptions,  the  fertile  valleys,  and  the  seaboard  plain 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Canaanites '  (Moore,  Judges^ 
pp.  7,  8).  This  agrees  with  the  subsequent  course  of 
events.  *  All  that  we  know  of  the  history  of  Israel  in 
Canaan  in  the  succeeding  centuries  confines  the  re- 
presentation of  Judges  that  the  subjugation  of  the  land  by 
the  tribes  was  gradual  and  partial ;  that  not  only  were 
the  Canaanites  not  extirpated,  but  that  many  cities  and 
whole  regions  remained  in  their  possession ;  that  the 
conquest  of  these  was  first  achieved  by  the  kings  David 
and  Solomon '  (/.  c). 

(b)  The  combined  narrative  of  JE,  drawn  probably  from 
the  later  strata  of  these  writers,  agrees  with  J  in  repre- 
senting Jericho  as  the  door  of  entrance  into  Canaan,  but 
differs  in  describing  the  entrance  of  Israel  as  that  of  a 
united  body  under  the  leadership  of  Joshua.  Joshua  is 
represented  as  stepping  into  the  position  previously  held 
by  Moses.  This  narrative  also  describes  the  two  great 
battles  in  the  south  and  north,  which  are  said  to  have 
thrown  open  the  land  to  Israel  In  the  closing  chapter, 
taken  chiefly  from  E,  the  conquest  of  Canaan  is  repre- 
sented as  complete  (cf.  verses  12  (LXX)  and  18). 

{c)  A  further  expansion  of  the  facts  stated  in  the 
earliest  source  is  found  in  the  editorial  work  of  R^.  Not 
only  does  he  emphasize,  probably  by  his  selection,  and 
certainly  by  his  summaries,  the  completeness  of  the 
conquest  of  Canaan  (e.  g.  xi.  23 :   cf.  the  treatment  of 


INTRODUCTION  261 

earlier  sources  for  the  two  great  battles,  chaps,  x,  xi),  but 
he  is  specially  eager  to  show  how  completely  the  Deutero- 
nomic  command  to  exterminate  the  peoples  of  Canaan 
(Deut.  XX.  16,  17)  is  obeyed  by  Joshua  (viii.  2,  27,  ix.  24, 
X.  25,  28-43,  xi.  10  f.,  xxi.  43  f.).  It  is  the  work,  both 
selective  and  productive,  of  this  writer,  which  has  given 
its  distinctive  colouring  to  the  Book  of  Joshua,  and  which 
justifies  the  opening  words  of  this  Introduction.  The 
religious  and  moral  evils  of  a  Canaanite  environment  had 
produced  in  the  original  author  of  Deuteronomy  the  con- 
viction that  the  population  of  Canaan  ought  to  have 
been  destroyed  at  the  outset.  In  the  historical  school 
nurtured  on  the  principles  of  Deuteronomy  there  grew 
the  conviction  that  this  population  must  have  been 
destroyed  by  so  faithful  a  servant  of  Yahweh  as  was 
Joshua. 

{(i)  The  narrative  of  P,  as  already  stated,  is  concerned 
almost  wholly  with  the  division  of  the  conquered  land, 
though  its  presupposition  is  that  the  conquest  has  been 
complete  (xviii.  i).  It  reflects  in  its  geography  the  post- 
exilic  conditions ;  '  the  information  given  is  full  and 
detailed  with  regard  to  Judah  and  Benjamin,  the  main 
settlement  of  the  restored  community.  Galilee,  the  other 
settlement  of  the  Jews  of  the  Restoration,  is  described 
with  less  completeness  and  clearness,  under  Zebulun, 
Issachar,  Asher,  and  Naphtali.  The  account  of  Ephraim 
and  Western  Manasseh,  i.  e.  the  Samaritan  territory,  is 
extremely  meagre  and  confused'  (Bennett,  S.B.O.T., 
p.  76).  The  division  of  the  land  by  lot,  though  unhistoric 
on  the  scale  represented  by  P,  finds  a  point  of  contact  in 
the  oldest  source  fxvii.  14 ;  Judges  i.  1-3)  ;  the  points  of 
attack  of  the  different  invading  parties,  and  therefore 
their  ultimate  territory,  may  well  have  been  decided  by 
the  sacred  lot  (see  on  vii.  14). 

2.  The  Book  of  Joshua  gives  us  no  information  as  to 
the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Canaan  by  Israel,  though  we 
may  infer  (see  on  xiv.  10)  that  its  narrative  extends  over 


262  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

\  five  or  seven  years  from  the  death  of  Moses.  It  is 
natural  to  ask  whether  there  is  any  external  evidence  as 
to  the  date  of  this  invasion.  This  question  admits  of  an 
affirmative  answer  since  the  discovery  of  the  Tell-el- 
Amarna  Letters  in  1887,  and  of  the  *  Israel'  Inscription 
at  Thebes  in  1896.  The  latter  of  these  may  be  named 
first,  as  it  appears  to  give  us  a  fixed  date  before  which 
the  Israelites  had  entered  Canaan  \  The  inscription 
gives  a  list  of  Syrian  vassals  of  the  Egyptian  king 
Merneptah,  the  son  of  Ramses  II,  about  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ.  In  this  list  appears 
the  name  '  Israel,'  in  such  a  connexion  that  settlement 
in  Palestine  seems  already  presupposed,  though  Israel 
is  by  no  means   the  ruling  people  of   Palestine.    This 

\  gives  us  therefore  the  date  1250  as  the  latest  possible  for 
the  entrance  of  Israel  into  Canaan.  The  evidence  of  the 
Tell-el-Amarna  Letters  is  less  easy  to  summarize,  or  even 
to  utilize  with  certainty.  These  300  or  more  tablets 
preserve  correspondence  of  Amenophis  III  and  IV 
of  Egypt  with  various  kings  of  Western  Asia,  and 
especially  with  officials  and  vassals  in  Palestine.  The 
latter  gives  us  a  picture  of  Palestine  about  1400  B.C., 
and  the  disorder  revealed  shows  how  easy  it  must 
have  been  for  invading  tribes  to  secure  an  entrance. 
The  Egyptian  sovereignty  over  Syria  was  threatened 
both  by  such  invasion  and  by  civil  war,  which  contributed 
to  it,  since  certain  of  the  vassal  kings  seem  to  have  hired 
foreign  mercenaries,  e.g.  Bedouin  tribes,  against  their 
rivals.     In  particular,  there  are  letters  from  Abdchiba,  of 


*  A  convenient  account  of  the  Tell-el-Amarna  Tablets  is 
given  by  Bennett  and  Haupt,  in  S.B.O.T.,  pp.  47-55,  or  in 
Niebuhr's  Die  Amama-Zeit  {Der  alte  Orient).  The  'Israel' 
Inscr.  is  discussed  in  detail  by  Meyer,  Die  Israeliten  und  ihre 
Nachbarstdmme  (1906),  p.  222  f.  ;  the  whole  topic  is  reviewed 
both  by  him  and  by  Steuernagel,  Die  Einwanderung  der 
israelitischen  Stdmme  in  Kanaan,  p.  1 13  f.,  to  which  books  the 
above  note  is  chiefly  indebted. 


INTRODUCTION  263 

Jerusalem,  complaining  that  '  the  Chabiri  are  occupying 
the  King's  cities.'  These  Chabiri  appear  in  various  parts 
of  Palestine,  and  it  has  been  proposed  to  see  in  them  the 
general  group  of  Hebrews'  (i.e.  'people  from  the  other 
side '),  *  tribes  playing  the  same  part  as  did  the  Israelites 
later '  (Winckler,  Die  Keilinschriften^  p.  198).  The  pres- 
sure of  these  Chabiri  on  Syria  is  of  much  wider  extent  than 
that  described  in  the  Biblical  records  of  Israel's  invasion, 
and  many  scholars  contend  that  there  are  not  sufficient 
points  of  contact  to  justify  the  identification.  But  there 
is  little  in  the  earliest  accounts  of  Israel's  invasion 
which  would  fail  to  fit  into  the  general  background  of  the 
movements  of  the  Chabiri.  The  Tell-el-Amarna  period 
of  about  1400  B.  c.  appears  to  form  the  terminus  a  quoy 
as  the  Israel  Inscription  of  1250  B.C.  forms  the  terminus 
ad  quern,  for  Israel's  settlement  in  Palestine. 

3.  The  traditional  'twelve  tribes'  (see  on  iv.  20),  whose 
geographical  settlement  occupies  so  large  a  place  in  this 
book  \,  are  the  product  of  later  theory,  working  on  terri- 
torial data,  rather  than  the  reflection  of  early  conditions 
(see  E.B.,  c.  5204  ;  D.B.,  iv.  p.  810).  *  Israel,  as  it  invaded 
Palestine,  was  a  loose  confederation  of  kindred  tribes.  .  .  . 
It  is,  however,  quite  uncertain  how  far  the  tribes  which  we 
find  in  Canaan  under  the  monarchy  correspond  to  tribes 
which  existed  before  the  Conquest '  (Bennett,  /.  c).  There 
is  still  much  division  of  opinion  amongst  scholars  as  to 
the  original  tribal  elements  and  combinations.  VVell- 
hausen's  reconstruction  is,  perhaps,  best  worth  stating. 
He  argues  from  the  division  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob 


'  The  discussion  of  the  geographical  data  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua  belongs  to  a  full  Commentary,  such  as  Dillmann's,  and 
to  the  geographical  expert,  and  no  attempt  has  been  made  in 
the  notes  to  deal  with  its  difficult  problems  in  any  adequate 
way.  It  may  be  noted  here  that  one  of  the  most  essential 
helps  to  the  study  of  'Joshua'  is  G.  A.  Smith's  Historical 
Geography  of  the  Holy  Land  (cited  as  H,  G.  H.  L.\  With  this 
should  be  named  Buhl's  Geographic  dcs  alien  Paldstina. 


264  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

(Gen.  XXXV.  23-26)  amongst  wives  and  concubines,  and 
from  the  birth  of  Benjamin  in  Palestine  (Gen.  xxxv. 
18),  that  the  invading  tribes  fell  into  two  groups,  viz.  the 
Sons  of  Leah  (Reuben,  Simeon,  Levi,  Judah,  Issachar, 
and  Zebulun)  and  Joseph,  the  Son  of  Rachel ;  the  latter 
formed  the  nucleus,  and  was  joined  by  the  former 
group  in  the  district  south  of  Palestine  {Gesckichte^ 
p.  16).  These  tribes  dispossessed  the  Amorites,  and 
settled  for  some  time  east  of  Jordan,  till  the  lack  of  union 
amongst  the  Canaanites  invited  further  aggression  west- 
wards. In  the  first  attempt,  made  by  Judah,  Simeon, 
and  Levi,  the  two  latter  were  destroyed ;  Judah  alone 
gained  a  footing  in  the  hill  country  west  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
its  losses  being  subsequently  made  good  by  union  with 
other  clans  from  the  south.  The  second  attempt  was 
made  chiefly  by  the  Josephites,  headed  by  Joshua,  who 
overthrew  the  Canaanites  at  Gibeon.  The  acquired 
territory  was  occupied  by  Benjamin,  Ephraim,  and 
Manasseh,  with  Shiloh  as  their  sacred  centre.  A  further 
victory  of  Joshua  opened  up  the  north  for  occupation 
(/.<;.,  pp.  36,  37). 

4.  The  place  of  Joshua,  as  a  historical  person,  in  such 
a  reconstruction  as  that  just  outlined,  is  that  of  an 
Ephraimite  leader  (note  his  burial-place,  xxiv.  30). 
Later  tradition  credited  him  with  the  leadership  of  all 
Israel,  but  as  a  matter  of  history  his  place  in  the  northern 
group  corresponds  with  that  of  Caleb  in  the  southern. 
'The  original  kernel  of  the  history  of  Joshua  is  a  memory 
of  the  battles  of  the  House  of  Joseph  for  the  hills  of 
Ephraim'  (Holzinger,  p.  xv).  Against  this  it  has  been 
argued  (Stade,  G.V.I. ^  i.  pp.  64 f.,  136  f.,)  that  the  figure 
of  Joshua  is  wholly  the  creation  of  a  later  age  :  *  the 
Joshua  legend,  unknown  to  J,  and  implying  an  entirely 
unhistorical  conception  of  the  course  of  events  in  the 
conquest  of  the  land,  is  clearly  formed  on  the  lines  of  the 
Moses  legend'  (p.  64).  It  is  true  that  the  part  played  by 
Joshua  becomes  a  greater  one  in  the  later  sources,  but 


INTRODUCTION  265 

hardly  that  he  is  unknown  to  the  earlier*.  The  moderate 
position  of  Kuenen  still  seems  that  which  the  evidence 
supports  :  *The  Joshua  of  the  book  that  bears  his  name, 
the  leader  of  the  united  Israel,  the  conqueror  and  divider 
of  all  Canaan,  is  certainly  not  a  historical  character,  but 
neither  is  he  a  pure  creation  out  of  nothing  ^ '.  We  can 
still,  therefore,  with  a  good  conscience,  join  Ben  Sirach 
(Ecclus.  xlvi.  I  f.)  in  including  Joshua  in  the  list  of 
famous  men  to  be  praised,  as  '  valiant  in  war,'  and  '  made 
great,'  if  not  *  that  he  might  give  [all]  Israel  their 
inheritance,'  yet  as  one  who  '  fought  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,  for  he  followed  after  the  Mighty  One.' 

IV.  Religious  Ideas. 

1.  The  actual  events  transacted  on  the  stage  of  the  Book 
of  Joshua  are,  as  we  have  seen,  like  those  belonging  to 
the  origins  of  other  nations,  dim  and  obscure.  But 
just  as  the  historical  plays  of  Shakespeare,  however 
anachronistic,  reveal  our  common  humanity  in  the  light  of 
Elizabethan  nationalism,  so  the  traditions  of  Israel's  dim 
past,  though  stamped  with  the  thought  and  life  of  a  later 
generation,  make  a  positive  contribution  to  religion. 
What  is  of  little  importance  for  the  political  may  be  of 
great  value  for  the  religious  history.  The  Book  of  Joshua 
can  illustrate  for  us  some  important  phases  in  the  de-| 
velopment  of  the  religion  of  Yahweh.  ' 

2.  Throughout  the  book  we  meet  with  various  survivals 
from  the  cruder  and  more  primitive  stages  of  thought,  out 
of  which  the  ethical  theism  of  Judaism  and  Christianity 
have  emerged.  There  are  references  to  blood-revenge 
(cities  of  refuge,  chap,  xx),  to  circumcision  and  the  passover 
(chap,  v),  to  the  ban  ('  devotion '  to  Yahweh  by  destruction, 

'  Cf.  G.  A.  Smith's  criticism  of  Stade  in  D.B.,  ii.  p.  786  b, 
though  the  inference  there  drawn  from  Joshua  xvii.  14-18, 
that  Joshua  appears  in  J  *  as  the  arbiter  over  all  Israel,'  seems 
without  justification. 

-  The  Hexateuch  (E.  T.\  p.  237. 


266  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

passim),  and  to  the  place  of  sacred  stones  and  trees  in 
Semitic  religion  (xxiv.  26),  of  which  topics  some  notice  has 
been  taken  in  the  Introduction  to  Deuteronomy.  We 
may  further  note  some  survivals  of  primitive  magic, 
incorporated  into  the  religion  of  Yahweh.  The  waters  of 
Jordan  withdraw  from  the  sacred  feet  of  the  priests  (iii. 
15,  iv.  18),  and  it  is  the  presence  of  the  sacred  ark  that 
keeps  back  the  river  (iv.  10).  No  one  familiar  with 
primitive  procedure  can  miss  the  significance  of  the  seven- 
fold manipulation  of  the  ark  in  regard  to  Jericho  (chap,  vi), 
though,  of  course,  the  magical  ceremonies  are  here 
blended  with  higher  ideas  of  dependence  on  Yahweh.  The 
placing  of  the  foot  on  the  necks  of  captured  kings  (x.  24) 
probably  belongs  to  the  very  wide  field  of  symbolic  magic, 
which  accomplishes  or  renews  an  event  by  its  repre- 
sentative performance.  The  power  of  the  spoken  word 
in  oath  (ii.  17  f.),  treaty  (ix.  18  f.),  curse  (vi.  26),  or  blessing 
(xiv.  13,  cf.  xxiv.  10),  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  ethical 
aspect  of  these  transactions.  Most  striking  of  all  is  the 
narrative  of  Achan's  theft,  with  its  implication  that  what 
is  made  taboo  brings  peril  to  the  whole  community  in 
contact  with  it.  No  more  forcible  example  than  this 
could  be  given  of  the  two  leading  characteristics  of 
ancient,  as  distinct  from  modern,  psychology,  viz.  the 
psychical  influence  of  physical  objects,  and  the  non- 
individualistic  or  corporate  idea  of  personality  (the  whole 
family  exterminated,  just  as  the  whole  of  Israel  suffered). 
3.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that,  even  in  the  earliest  sources 
of  the  book,  such  conceptions  are  far  transcended.  The 
best  example  of  this  is  supplied  by  Joshua's  vision  of  the 
captain  of  Yahweh's  host  (v.  13-15).  *It  is  a  noble 
illustration  of  the  truth  that,  in  the  great  causes  of  God 
upon  the  earth,  the  leaders,  however  supreme  and  solitary 
they  seem,  are  themselves  led.  There  is  a  rock  higher 
than  they  ;  their  shoulders,  however  broad,  have  not  to 
bear  alone  the  awful  burden  of  responsibility.  The  sense 
of  supernatural  conduct  and  protection,  the  consequent 


INTRODUCTION  267 

reverence  and  humility,  which  form  the  spirit  of  all  Israel's 
history,  have  nowhere  in  the  O.  T.  received  a  more 
beautiful  expression  than  in  this  early  fragment'  (G.  A. 
Smith,  D.B.,  ii.  p.  788). 

4.  The  religious  spirit  and  attitude  of  the  Deuteronomistic 
redaction  are  clearly  brought  out  in  the  first  chapter  (verses 
5-7),  viz.  the  assurance  of  the  Divine  presence  and  aid 
where  there  is  perfect  obedience.  The  emphasis  falls 
throughout  on  the  complete  and  absolute  obedience  of 
Joshua  to  the  commands  of  Moses,  which  are  the  com- 
mands of  Yahweh  (xi.  15),  and  on  the  conviction  that 
obedient  Israel's  cause  is  also  Yahweh's :  'What  shall  I 
say,  after  that  Israel  hath  turned  their  backs  before  their 
enemies  ?  .  .  .  and  what  wilt  thou  do  for  thy  great 
name?'  (vii.  8,  9).  Even  the  dark  shadow  of  exter- 
minating wars,  which  falls  on  this  writer's  contribution,  is 
thrown  by  a  leader  who  stands  in  the  blazing  light  of 
Yahweh's  *  hohness.' 

5.  The  religious  teaching  in  the  priestly  source  (P),  the 
latest  of  all,  is  less  direct,  as  is  natural  from  the  character 
of  its  contents.  But  the  significance  of  the  division  of  the 
land  by  the  sacred  lot  must  not  be  overlooked.  '  Each 
tribe  is  convinced  that  its  possession  is  bestowed  upon  it 
by  Yahweh'  (Steuernagel,  p.  152).  The  zeal  for  the 
sanctuary  of  Yahweh  (xxii.  9-34),  which  the  priestly  writers 
inherit  and  develop  from  the  Deuteronomic  reform,  has  its 
noble  side,  as  well  as  its  historically  demonstrated  peril  of 
formalism  and  hypocrisy.  The  stones  of  the  temple  are 
not  without  their  own  glory,  because  One  came  at  last  to 
make  men  see  more  to  admire  in  the  self-sacrifice  of  the 
woman  who  dropped  her  all  into  its  treasury. 


268  THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 


NOTES  ON   LITERATURE 

The  commentaries  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  notes  to 
this  edition  are  those  of  :— 

DiLLMANN  {Numeric  Deuieronomium^  und  Josua"^)^  1886. 
Bennett  ( The  Book  of  Joshua,  in  Sacred  Books  of  the  Old 

Testament,  cited  as  S.B.Q,  T.),  1899. 
Steuernagel  {Deuteronomium  und  Josua),  1900. 
HoLZiNGER  {Das  Buck  Josua),  1901. 

The  English  reader  who  desires  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the 
literary  composition  of  the  book  is  recommended  to  use 
Bennett's  Joshua,  where  the  different  sources  are  indicated  by 
the  use  of  different  colours.  Further  details  as  to  literary 
criticism  will  be  found  in  the  Oxford  Hexateuch  (Carpenter 
and  Battersby),  1900.  There  is  no  large  modern  commentary 
available  in  English  ;  but  that  promised  by  G.  A.  Smith  in  the 
International  Critical  Commentary  will  doubtless  become  the 
chief  authority  in  English.  Meanwhile,  his  general  view  of 
the  book  may  be  seen  in  Hastings's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible 
(vol.  ii.  pp.  779-88) ;  with  this  may  be  compared  the  more 
advanced  critical  discussion  by  Moore,  in  the  Encyclopaedia 
Bihlica  (vol.  ii.  c.  2600-2609).  The  subject-matter  of  Joshua 
is,  of  course,  discussed  in  all  the  larger  histories  of  Israel,  as 
well  as  in  numerous  special  monographs,  dealing  with  the 
origins  of  Israel,  of  which  one  of  the  most  recent  is  Meyer's 
Die  Israeliten  und  ihre  Nachbarstdmme  (1906). 


SYMBOLS  AND  ABBREVIATIONS 

(see  p.  53). 

(Where  Bennett,  Dillmann,  Holzinger  and  Steuernagel  are 
cited  without  further  specification,  the  reference  is  to  their 
commentaries  on  Joshua  named  above.) 


THE   BOOK   OF  JOSHUA 

REVISED  VERSION  WITH   ANNOTATIONS 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 

[  JE]  Now  it  came  to  pass  after  the  death  of  Moses  the  1 
servant  of  the  Lord,  that  the  Lord  spake  unto  Joshua 
the  son  of  Nun,  Moses'  minister,  saying,  Moses   my  a 
servant  is  dead ;  now  therefore  arise,  go  over  this  Jordan, 
thou,  and  all  this  people,  unto  the  land  which  I  do  give 
to  them,  even  to  the  children  of  Israel.     [R^]  Every  place  3 
that  the  sole  of  your  foot  shall  tread  upon,  to  you  have  I 
given  it,  as  I  spake  unto  Moses.     From  the  wilderness,  4 
and  this  Lebanon,  even  unto  the  great  river,  the  river 
Euphrates,  all  the  land  of  the  Hittites,  and  unto  the 

I-XII.  The  Conquest  of  Canaan. 

i.  1-9.  Yahweh  charges  Joshua  to  take  up  the  work  of  Moses 
(with  the  same  help  from  Himself),  and  to  lead  Israel  into  the 
Promised  Land. 

1.  after  the  death  of  Moses :  Deut.  xxxiv.  5  f. ;  for  the  place 
where  this  charge  was  given,  see  note  on  Deut.  i.  i. 

Joshua:  previously  mentioned  in  Exod.  xvii.  9-14,  xxiv.  13,' 
xxxii.  17,  xxxiii.  11  ;  Num.  xi.  28  ;  Deut.  xxxi.  14,  23  (all  E)  ;  Deut. 
i.  38,  iii.  21,  28,  xxxi.  3,  7  (D  '^  ;  Num.  xiii.  16,  xiv.  6,  30,  38,  xxvi.  65, 
xxvii.  18,  22,  xxxii.  12,  28,  xxxiv.  17  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  9  (P).  The 
name  apparently  means  '  Yahweh  is  deliverance,'  and  in  its  Greek 
form  becomes  Jesus  (Acts  vii.  45  ;  Heb.  iv.  8).  On  the  Joshua  of 
history,  see  Introd.  III. 

3.  as  I  spake  unto  Moses:  Deut.  xi.  24 f.,  from  which  the 
words  in  verse  3  f.  are  quoted  :  see  the  note  there.  This  chapter 
contains  numerous  references  to,  or  echoes  from,  Deuteronomy, 
and  is  clearly  by  a  Deuteronomistic  writer,  incorporating  older 
material  in  verses  i,  2,  10,  11. 

4.  all  the  land  of  the  Hittites :  not  in  the  original  passage, 
nor  here  in  LXX  ;  perhaps  a  gloss.  The  name  '  Hittites '  is  here 
used  loosely  (cf.  Gen  xxiii,  10 ;    Ezek.  xvi.  3),  like  that  of  the 


272  JOSHUA  1.  5-9.     R° 

great  sea  toward  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  shall  be  your 

5  border.  There  shall  not  any  man  be  able  to  stand  before 
thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life :  as  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I 
will  be  with  thee :   I  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee. 

6  Be  strong  and  of  a;  goocj  courage:  for  thou  shalt  cause 
this  people  to  inherit  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  their 

7  fathers  to  give  them.  Only  be  strong  and  very  courage- 
ous, to  observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law,  which 
Moses  my  servant  commanded  thee :  turn  not  from  it  to 
the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  that  thou  mayest  »  have  good 

s  success  whithersoever  thou  goest.  This  book  of  the  law 
shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  but  thou  shalt  meditate 
therein  day  and  night,  that  thou  mayest  observe  to  do 
according  to  all  that  is  written  therein :  for  then  thou 
shalt  make  thy  way  prosperous,  and   then  thou  shalt 

9  ^  have  good  success.  Have  not  I  commanded  thee  ?  Be 
strong  and  of  a  good  courage ;  be  not  affrighted,  neither 
be  thou  dismayed :  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  with  thee 
whithersoever  thou  goest. 

^  Or,  deal  wisely 


'  Canaanites.'  The  Hittite  Empire  proper  lay  between  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Orontes  in  North  and  North-East  Syria 
(2  Kings  vii.  6  ;  E.B.,  2096). 

5.  fail :  'drop '  (Deut.  iv.  31,  xxxi.  6,  8),  or,  possibly,  as  in  Josh. 
X.  6  (let  drop  the  hand  from). 

6.  Deut.  i.  38,  xxxi.  7  ;  for  the  oath  of  Yahweh  (frequently 
named  in  Deuteronomy),  Gen.  xxii.  16  f. 

*7.  Deut.  V.  32,  xxix.  9 ;  only  specifies  rigorous  obedience  as 
the  condition  of  success,  a  main  principle  of  the  writer. 

the  law :   omit  with  LXX,  supported  here  by  the  Hebrew 
itself. 

8.  The  devotion  to  the  law  of  Deuteronomy,  in  speech  and 
thought  (cf.  Ps.  i.  2,  3),  enjoined  on  kings  (Deut.  xvii.  19)  as  essen- 
tial to  success,  is  here  required  of  Joshua ;  the  verse  '  lays 
down  the  programme  for  the  rigorously  Deuteronomistic  conduct 
of  Joshua'  (Dillmann). 


JOSHUA  1.  io-i6.     JER°  273 

[JE]  Then  Joshua   commanded   the  officers  of  the  10 
people,  saying,  Pass  through  the  midst  of  the  camp,  and  1 1 
command  the  people,  saying,  Prepare  you  victuals ;   for 
within  three  days  ye  are  to  pass  over  this  Jordan,  [R°]  to 
go  in  to  possess  the  land,  which  the  Lord  your  God  giveth 
you  to  possess  it. 

And  to  the  Reubenites,  and  to  the  Gadites,  and  to  the  1 2 
half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  spake  Joshua,  saying.  Remember  13 
the  word  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  com- 
manded you,  saying.  The  Lord  your  God  giveth  you  rest, 
and  will  give  you  this  land.     Your  wives,  your  little  ones,  14 
and  your  cattle,  shall  abide  in  the  land  which  Moses  gave 
you  beyond  Jordan  ;  but  ye  shall  pass  over  before  your 
brethren  armed,  all  the  mighty  men  of  valour,  and  shall 
help  them  ;  until  the  Lord  have  given  your  brethren  rest,  15 
as  he  hath  given  you,  and  they  also  have  possessed  the 
land  which  the  Lord  your  God  giveth  them  :   then  ye 
shall  return  unto  the  land  of  your  possession,  and  possess 
it,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  gave  you  beyond 
Jordan  toward  the  sunrising.    And  they  answered  Joshua,  16 
saying,  All  that  thou  hast  commanded  us  we  will  do,  and 

i.  10,  II.  Joshua  orders  food  to  be  prepared  for  the  passage  of 
the  Jordan. 

10.  officers  :  see  notes  on  Deut.  xx.  5,  9. 

11.  victnals  :  as  in  ix.  ii,  where  R.V.  has  'provision.' 
The  use  of  this  Hebrew  word  and  the  reference  to  *  three  days ' 
are  characteristic  of  E. 

i.  12-18.  Joshua  reminds  the  tribes  already  settled  east  of 
Jordan  that  they  are  to  assist  in  the  conquest  of  the  west  ;  which 
they  profess  their  readiness  to  do,  promising  obedience  to  him  as 
to  Moses. 

12  f.  Deut.  iii.  18-20  :  cf.  Num.  xxxii. 

14.  beyond  Jordan:  i.e.  from  the  standpoint  of  a  later  age  : 
cf.  Deut.  i.  I. 

15.  then  ye  shall  return:  as  recorded  in  xxii.  1-8. 

and  possess  it :  omit  with  LXX,  supported  by  the  Hebrew. 


274  JOSHUA  1.  17—2.  2.     R^  JE 

17  whithersoever  thou  sendest  us  we  will  go.  According  as 
we  hearkened  unto  Moses  in  all  things,  so  will  we 
hearken  unto  thee  :  only  the  Lord  thy  God  be  with  thee, 

18  as  he  was  with  Moses.  Whosoever  he  be  that  shall 
rebel  against  thy  commandment,  and  shall  not  hearken 
unto  thy  words  in  all  that  thou  commandest  him,  he  shall 
be  put  to  death  :  only  be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage. 

2  [  JE]  And  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  sent  out  of  Shittim 
two  men  as  spies  secretly,  saying,  Go  view  the  land,  and 
Jericho.     And  they  went,  and  came  into  the  house  of  an 

2  harlot  whose  name  was  Rahab,  and  lay  there.     And  it 

ii.  1-24.  Joshua  sends  two  spies  into  Jericho,  who  lodge  with 
the  harlot  Rahab.  She  hides  them  when  the  authorities  suspect 
their  presence.  She  tells  the  spies  that  she  has  heard  of  their 
God,  and  believes  in  His  power  ;  as  a  reward  for  saving  thera, 
she  asks  that  she  and  her  relatives  may  be  spared  when  the  city 
is  taken.  This  the  men  swear,  and  give  her  a  token  to  distinguish 
her  house.  At  her  advice,  they  escape  their  pursuers  by  waiting 
in  the  mountains  for  three  days,  after  which  they  return  safely, 
and  report  their  tidings  to  Joshua. 

,  This  narrative  belongs  to  JE  (apart  from  the  expansion  of  R^^  in 
verses  10,  11),  and  shows  signs  of  its  composite  origin  (see 
Introd.,  II.  4).  Bennett's  analysis  is  as  follows  :  verses  1-9  (JE), 
lo-ii  (RD),  12-14  (J),  15-16  (E),  17  (JE),  18-2T  (J,  except 
'which  thou  didst  let  us  down  by,*  JE),  22-4  (E). 

There  appear  to  be  doublets  in  verses  3,  12,  13,  and  18,  whilst 
verse  15  interrupts  the  secret  conversation  in  an  improbable 
way. 

1.  Shittim:  iii.  i  ;  Num.  xxv.  i,  xxxiii.  49  (Abel  Hashittim, 
'meadow  of  the  acacia  trees'),  the  last  halting-place  of  Israel; 
in  the  Jordan  Valley  opposite  to  Jericho  ;  usually  identified  with 
Kefrein. 

Jericho :  the  '  Palm  City  '  (Deut.  xxxiv.  3 ;  Judges  i.  16, 
iii.  13  ;  2  Chron.  xxviii.  15),  in  the  Jordan  Valley,  about  a  mile 
from  the  mountains  leading  up  to  Judah,  five  miles  west  of  the 
river,  and  rather  more  north  of  the  Dead  Sea.  For  a  review  of 
the  history  of  Jericho,  see  G.  A.  Smith,  H.G.JFf.L.,  pp.  266-8  ; 
for  a  description  of  its  ancient  fertility,  Josephus,  The  Jewish  War, 
iv.  c.  8,  §  3. 

the  house  of  an  harlot:  chosen  as  affording  a  pretext  for 
their  presence. 


JOSHUA  2.  3-6.     JE  275 

was  told  the  king  of  Jericho,  saying,  Behold,  there  came 
men  in  hither  to-night  of  the  children  of  Israel  to  search 
out  the  land.    And  the  king  of  Jericho  sent  unto  Rahab,  3 
saying,  Bring  forth  the  men  that  are  come  to  thee,  which 
are  entered  into  thine  house  :  for  they  be  come  to  search 
out  all  the  land.    And  the  woman  took  the  two  men,  and  4 
hid  them ;  and  she  said,  Yea,  the  men  came  unto  me, 
but  I  wist  not  whence  they  were :   and  it  came  to  pass  5 
about  the  time  of  the  shutting  of  the  gate,  when  it  was 
dark,  that  the  men  went  out :   whither  the  men  went  I 
wot  not :  pursue  after  them  quickly ;  for  ye  shall  overtake 
them.     But  she  had  brought  them  up  to  the  roof,  and  6 
hid  them  with  the  stalks  of  flax,  which  she  had  laid  in 


XKahab:  vi.  17-25;  not  elsewhere  named  in  O.  T.  ;  praised 
for  her  works  (in  helping  the  spies),  James  ii.  25,  for  her  faith 
(verse  pf),  Heb.  xi.  31  ;  cf.  Matt.  i.  5,  where  she  figures  in  the  \ 
genealogy  of  Jesus  Christ.  Rabbinical  tradition  makes  her  the  .■ 
ancestress  of  eight  prophets  and  priests,  including  Jeremiah,  and  j 
even  asserts  that  Joshua  married  her,  when  she  had  become  a; 
proselyte  (Lightfoot,  Horae  Hebraicae,  on  Matt.  i.  5).  Her  deeds  ^ 
are  honoured  by  Patristic  writers  also  (see  on  verse  18). 

3.  the  king'  of  Jericho  :  the  existence  of  many  such  local 
'  kings '  in  Canaan  at  this  period  is  confirmed  by  the  Tell-el-Amarna 
Letters  (Introd.,  III.  2). 

4.  hid  them  :  Hebrew  'hid  him,'  emended  by  R.  V.  with  LXX  ; 
J  or  E  may  have  spoken  of  one  spy  only. 

5.  The  Hebrew  is  more  graphic  :  *  the  gate  was  for  shutting,  in 
the  dark,  and  the  men  went  forth.' 

6.  the  roof:  i.  e.  the  flat  roof  of  the  Eastern  house,  from  which 
the  Philistines  looked  down  on  blind  Samson  (Judges  xvi.  27)  ; 
where  Saul  slept,  as  Samuel's  guest  (i  Sam.  ix.  25,  R.  V.  marg.) ; 
from  which  David,  as  he  walked,  saw  Bathsheba  (2  Sam.  xi.  2)  ; 
where  religious  ceremonies  were  performed  (Neh.  viii.  16  ;  Jer. 
xix.  13  ;  Zeph.  i.  5) ;  and  whither  men  withdrew,  like  Peter,  for 
prayer  (Acts  x.  9).  For  safet}',  the  law  of  Deuteronomy  requires 
it  to  be  protected  with  a  parapet  (xxii.  8). 

stalks  of  flax:  i.e.  stalks,  two  or  three  feet  long,  not  yet 
beaten  out,  but  exposed  to  dry.  Their  fibres  were  used  for  the 
manufacture  of  linen,  whose  antiquity  is  shown  by  its  use  in 
mummy  wrappings  (see  Post,  in  D.B.  s.  v.  *  Flax  '). 

T    2 


276  JOSHUA  2.  7-12.     JE  R°  JE 

7  order  upon  the  roof.  And  the  men  pursued  after  them 
the  way  to  Jordan  unto  the  fords :  and  as  soon  as  they 
which  pursued  after  them  were  gone  out,  they  shut  the 

8  gate.    And  before  they  were  laid  down,  she  came  up  unto 

9  them  upon  the  roof;  and  she  said  unto  the  men,  I  know 
that  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the  land,  and  that  your 
terror  is  fallen  upon  us,  and  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 

10  land  melt  away  before  you.  [R°]  For  we  have  heard 
how  the  Lord  dried  up  the  water  of  the  Red  Sea  before 
you,  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt ;  and  what  ye  did  unto 
the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites,  that  were  beyond  Jordan, 

1 1  unto  Sihon  and  to  Og,  whom  ye  utterly  destroyed.  And 
as  soon  as  we  had  heard  it,  our  hearts  did  melt,  neither 
did  there  remain  any  more  spirit  in  any  man,  because  of 
you:  for  the  Lord  your  God,  he  is  God  in  heaven  above,  and 

1 3  on  earth  beneath.  [  JE]  Now  therefore,  I  pray  you,  swear 
unto  me  by  the  Lord,  since  I  have  dealt  kindly  with  you, 
that  ye  also  will  deal  kindly  with  my  father's  house,  and 

7.  the  fords:  (Judges  iii.  28)  of  which  there  are  several,  link- 
ing Jericho  with  Gilead  and  Moab  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  266). 

9  f.  Rahab  is  represented  as  acquainted  not  only  with  the  name 
*  Yahweh  '  (R.  V.  the  Lord),  but  also  with  the  successes  already 
won  by  Israel.  In  verses  10,  11  her  words  are  amplified  by 
the  Deuteronomic  redactor,  as  the  change  in  style  clearly  shows. 
With  verse  9,  cf.  Exod.  xv.  14-16  (JE),  and  Deut.  ii.  25,  xi.  25. 

melt  away :  i.  e.  in  a  psychical  sense,  of  terror ;  but  the 
Hebrew  word  means  rather  '  shake,'  '  quiver,'  like  waves  (so  Ges.- 
Buhl,  Siegfried-Stade,  s.  v.  mug:  cf.  the  Arabic  maja,  of  the  sea). 

10.  Exod.  xiv.  15  f .  ;  Num.  xxi.  21-35  :  cf.  Deut.  ii.  24  f.,  iii.  i  f. 

ntterly  destroyed :  *  devoted,'  Deut.  ii.  34,  iii.  6,  &c. 

neither  did  there  remain  any  more  spirit :  Hebrew,  *  ruach 

no  longer  stood,'  i.  e.  maintained  itself     The  phrase  is  peculiar, 

and  differs  somewhat  from  that  in  v.  i  (cf.  i  Kings  x.  5),   though 

meaning  the  same. 

he  is  God,  &c. :  quoted  from  Deut.  iv.  39  (q.v.),  with 
omission  of  'there  is  none  else.' 

12.  a  true  token:  i.e.  a  trustworthy  sign:  possibly  the 
'scarlet  thread'  of  verse  18. 


JOSHUA  2.  13-19.     JE  277 

give  me  a  true  token:   and  that  ye  will  save  alive  my  13 
father,  and  my  mother,  and  my  brethren,  and  my  sisters, 
and  all  that  they  have,  and  will  deliver  our  lives  from 
death.     And  the  men  said  unto  her,  Our  life  o-  for  yours,  14 
if  ye  utter  not  this  our  business ;   and  it  shall  be,  when 
the  Lord  giveth  us  the  land,  that  we  will  deal  kindly  and 
truly  with  thee.     Then  she  let  them  down  by  a  cord  15 
through  the  window :   for  her  house  was  upon  the  town 
wall,  and  she  dwelt  upon  the  wall.     And  she  said  unto  16 
them,  Get  you  to  the  mountain,  lest  the  pursuers  light 
upon  you  ;  and  hide  yourselves  there  three  days,  until  the 
pursuers  be  returned  :  and  afterward  may  ye  go  your  way. 
And  the  men  said  unto  her,  We  will  be  guiltless  of  this  17 
thine  oath  which  thou  hast  made  us  to  swear.     Behold,  1 8 
when  we  come  into  the  land,  thou  shalt  bind  this  line  of 
scarlet  thread  in  the  window  which  thou  didst  let  us  down 
by :  and  thou  shalt  gather  unto  thee  into  the  house  thy 
father,  and  thy  mother,  and  thy  brethren,  and  all  thy 
father's  household.    And  it  shall  be,  that  whosoever  shall  19 
go  out  of  the  doors  of  thy  house  into  the  street,  his  blood 

•^  Heb.  instead  of  you  to  die. 

14.  The  promise  is  made  conditional  on  her  continued  secrecy  ; 
for  its  fulfilment,  see  vi.  22-5. 

15.  A  picture  of  such  a  house  (on  the  present  wall  of 
Damascus)  is  given  by  Bennett,  p.  58.  Cf.  Acts  ix.  25.  Tlie 
'  window  '  would  probably  be  a  small  opening,  closed  by  lattice- 
work (2  Kings  xiii.  17). 

16.  the  mountain :  better  '  hill-country.'  Its  caves  would 
afford  hiding-places,  and  the  circuit  to  the  west  would  throw  the 
pursuers  off  their  track. 

17.  We  will  be  (pxiltless  of :  'we  are  exempt  from'  (Gen.  xxiv.  8, 
41),  i.  e.  if  the  three  following  conditions  (use  of  the  sign,  gather- 
ing of  relatives,  concealment  of  spies'  mission,  verses  19,  20)  be 
not  kept. 

18.  scarlet  thread :  in  early  Christian  writers,  this  became  an 
evident  prophecy  of  the  Atonement ;  e.  g.  Clement  of  Rome,  i  Cor. 
xii,  and  the  note  in  Jacobson,  Pat.  Apost.,  ad  he.    See  on  verse  i. 


278  JOSHUA  2.  20—3.  i.    JE 

shall  be  upon  his  head,  and  we  will  be  guiltless :   and 
whosoever  shall  be  with  thee  in  the  house,  his  blood  shall 

20  be  on  our  head,  if  any  hand  be  upon  him.  But  if  thou 
utter  this  our  business,  then  we  will  be  guiltless  of  thine 

21  oath  which  thou  hast  made  us  to  swear.  And  she  said, 
According  unto  your  words,  so  be  it.  And  she  sent  them 
away,  and  they  departed:    and  she  bound  the  scarlet 

2  2  line  in  the  window.  And  they  went,  and  came  unto  the 
mountain,  and  abode  there  three  days,  until  the  pursuers 
were  returned  :  and  the  pursuers  sought  them  throughout 

n  all  the  way,  but  found  them  not.  Then  the  two  men 
returned,  and  descended  from  the  mountain,  and  passed 
over,  and  came  to  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  ;  and  they  told 

24  him  all  that  had  befallen  them.  And  they  said  unto 
Joshua,  Truly  the  Lord  hath  delivered  into  our  hands 
all  the  land ;  and  moreover  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land 
do  melt  away  before  us. 

3      And  Joshua   rose   up   early    in    the    morning,    and 


19.  blood:  conceived  by  early  thought  to  be  charged  with 
mysterious  energy,  and  to  be  quasi-automatic  in  its  working 
(Deut.  xxi.  8)  ;  it  will  be  perilous  to  the  spies  only  if  shed  within 
the  house  of  Rahab.     See  p.  24. 

24.  Omit  truly  ;  for  'melt  away,'  see  on  verse  9. 

chaps,  iii,  iv.  The  Passage  of  the  Jordan.  From  Shittim,  the 
Israelites  move  to  the  Jordan,  which  they  are  to  cross,  headed  by 
the  ark  carried  by  priests.  Joshua  promises,  and  is  promised,  a  dis- 
play of  Divine  power  (iii.  1-8).  He  declares  that  the  waters  of 
Jordan  shall  withdraw  from  the  feet  of  the  priests  ;  this  comes  to 
pass,  all  Israel  passing  over  on  dry  ground  (iii.  9-17).  At  the  bidding 
of  Yahweh,  Joshua  orders  twelve  chosen  men  to  take  twelve  stones 
from  the  Jordan  bed,  where  the  ark-bearers  stood,  and  to  erect 
them  on  the  western  shore  as  a  memorial  of  the  event.  This  is 
done,  and  in  addition,  Joshua  sets  up  twelve  stones  in  the  Jordan 
bed  itself,  the  ark  meantime  standing  there.  Forty  thousand 
fighting  men  of  the  tribes  already  settled  accompany  the  people 
(iv.  1-14).  Joshua  now  commands  the  ark  to  be  carried  up  from 
the  Jordan  bed  (regardless  of  verse  11).     When  this  is  done,  the 


JOSHUA  3.  2-5.     JE  P  JE  279 

they  removed  from  Shittim,  and   came  to  Jordan,  he 
and  all  the  children  of  Israel ;    and  they  lodged  there 
before  they  passed  over.     And   it   came   to   pass  after  2 
three  days,  that  the  officers  went  through  the  midst  of 
the  camp;    and  they  commanded  the  people,  saying,  3 
When  ye  see  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your 
God,  and  the  priests  the  Levites  bearing  it^  then  ye  shall 
remove  from  your  place,  and  go  after  it.     [P]  Yet  there  4 
shall  be  a  space  between  you  and  it,  about  two  thousand 
cubits  by  measure :   come  not  near  unto  it,  that  ye  may 
know  the  way  by  which  ye  must  go ;    for  ye  have  not 
passed  this  way  heretofore.     [JE]  And  Joshua  said  unto  5 
the  people,  Sanctify  yourselves  :  for  to-morrow  the  Lord 

waters  return  (iv.  15-19).  The  twelve  stones  from  the  Jordan 
bed  are  set  up  at  Gilgal  to  link  the  crossing  in  future  memory 
with  that  of  the  Red  Sea  (iv.  20-24). 

The  composite  character  of  these  two  chapters  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  duplication  of  subject-matter,  viz.  («"  passage  of  the  people  : 
cf.  ill.  17  ^  iv.  i»  (RD)  with  iv.  10^  (JE)  ;  (i)  passage  of  the 
ark :  cf.  iv.  11  ^  (JE)  with  iv.  15-17  (P)  ;  (c)  erection  of  stones  :  cf. 
iv.  3^,  8'',  20  (JE  ;  stones  taken  out  of  the  river-bed,  and  set  up  at 
Gilgal)  with  iv.  9  (R^^ ;  stones  set  up  in  the  river-bed)  ;  (d)  ex- 
planation of  the  stones  :  cf.  iv.  6,  7  (JE)  with  iv.  21-24  (R^). 

1.  lodgfed:  Heb.  'passed  the  night.' 

2.  Cf.  i.  ro.  II  (E),  to  which  this  verse  possibly  belongs,  as 
verse  i  to  J. 

3.  the  ark  of  the  covenant :  Deut.  x.  8 ;  an  earlier  phrase  is 
'  the  ark  of  Yahweh  '  (iii.  13),  a  later,  'the  ark  of  the  testimony' 
(iv.  16).  Bennett  (p.  59)  calls  attention  to  the  absence  of  any 
reference  to  the  Tabernacle  and  its  elaborate  furniture  (of  which 
there  was  no  conception  when  the  narrative  of  JE  was  written, 
i.  e.  ninth  to  eighth  century). 

the  priests  the  Levites :  see  on  Deut.  xviii.  i. 

4.  two  thousand  cubits  =  1,000  yards;  the  verse  is  probably 
the  addition  of  a  priestly  redactor,  to  emphasize  the  holiness  of 
the  ark  :  cf.  Num.  xxxv.  5  (P),  where  the  Levitical  city  stands 
within  a  square,  each  side  of  which  measures  2,000  cubits. 
The  'Sabbath  day's  journey'  (Acts  i.  12),  of  the  same  extent, 
was  probably  deduced  as  included  in  the  '  place '  of  Exod.  xvi. 
29  {E.B.,  4175,  note  4\ 

5.  Sanctify  yourselves :   i.  e.   make  yourselves   ceremonially 


28o         JOSHUA  3.  6-1 1.     JE  W  JE  R^  JE 

6  will  do  wonders  among  you.  And  Joshua  spake  unto 
the  priests,  saying,  Take  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant^  and 
pass  over  before  the  people.     And  they  took  up  the  ark 

7  of  the  covenant,  and  went  before  the  people.  [R'-']  And 
the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  This  day  will  I  begin  to 
magnify  thee  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  that  they  may 
know  that,  as  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  be  with  thee. 

8  [ JE]  And  thou  shalt  command  the  priests  that  bear  the 
ark  of  the  covenant,  saying.  When  ye  are  come  to  the 
brink  of  the  waters  of  Jordan,  ye  shall  stand  still  in 
Jordan. 

9  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  Come 
hither,  and   hear   the  words  of  the  Lord  your   God. 

10  And  Joshua  said,  Hereby  ye  shall  know  that  the  living 
God  is  among  you,  [R°]  and  that  he  will  without  fail 
drive  out  from  before  you  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Hittite, 
and  the  Hivite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and  the  Girgashite,  and 

1 1  the  Amorite,  and  the  Jebusite.     [  JE]  Behold,  the  ark  of 


clean  :  vii.  13  ;  Exod.  xix.  10,  14,  15  (E),  where  the  (longer)  purifi- 
cation includes  the  washing  of  garments  and  abstention  from 
sexual  intercourse.  Cf.  Num.  xi.  18,  and  for  the  ideas  involved,  E.B. 
s.  V.  '  Clean  and  Unclean.'  The  general  idea  is  that  connexion  with 
*  holy '  persons,  things,  or  events  is  specially  perilous  unless  due 
measures  of  psychical  insulation  be  taken. 

7.  Yahweh  promises  to  confirm  His  commission  to  Joshua 
(i.  5,  17),  by  which  Joshua  speaks  as  His  prophet  (verse  pf.). 

8.  brink :  see  on  verse  15. 

10.  the  living*  God  :  Hos.  i.  10 ;  Ps.  xlii.  2,  Ixxxiv.  2  :  cf.  Deut. 
v.  26,  &c.,  and  the  oath,  '  As  Yahweh  liveth '  (Judges  viii.  19, 
and  often),  or  '  As  I  live '  (Deut.  xxxii.  40).  The  activity  of 
Yahweh  among  His  people  is  presented  as  the  ground  of  future 
confidence. 

drive  out :  'dispossess.'   For  this  Deuteronomistic  grouping 
of  the  seven  peoples,  see  Deut.  vii.  i. 

11.  the  covenant:  interpolated,  here  and  in  verse  14,  like 
covenant  of  Yahweh '  in  verse  17,  as  is  shown  by  the  gi-ammar  of 
the  Hebrew  sentences. 


JOSHUA  3.  12-16.     JE  281 

the  covenant  of  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth  passeth  over 
before  you  into  Jordan.      Now  therefore  take  you  twelve  12 
men  out  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  for  every  tribe  a  man. 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the  soles  of  the  feet  of  ^3 
the  priests  that  bear  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  all 
the  earth,  shall  rest  in  the  waters  of  Jordan,  that  the 
waters  of  Jordan  shall  be  cut  off,  even  the  waters  that 
come  down  from  above;   and  they  shall  stand  in  one 
heap.     And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people  removed  14 
from  their  tents,  to  pass  over  Jordan,  the  priests  that 
bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  being  before  the  people ; 
and  when  they  that  bare  the  ark  were  come  unto  Jordan,  15 
and  the  feet  of  the  priests  that  bare  the  ark  were  dipped 
in  the  brink  of  the  water,  (for  Jordan  overfloweth  all  its 
banks  all  the  time  of  harvest,)  that  the  waters  which  16 


the  Lord  of  all  the  earth :  i.  e.  Adon,  not  Yahweh.  Note 
the  difference  in  type  of  R.  V.,  which  uses  Lord  to  express 
Yahweh.  Cf.  verse  13  ;  Mic.  iv.  13  ;  Zech.  iv.  14,  vi.  5  ;  Ps.  xcvii. 
5.  Probably  the  phrase  is  here  interpolated  by  R^^  (cf.  Deut. 
X.  14). 

12.  This  must  have  been  preceded  in  the  original  narrative  b3' 
the  corresponding  command  of  Yahweh,  iv.  i  ^-^ ;  it  is  resumed 
by  iv.  4  f. 

13.  The  miracle  is  to  be  mediated  by  the  holiness  of  the  priests' 
feet,  from  which  the  waters  will  withdraw  :  in  one  heap,  i.  e.  as 
a  wall,  or  dam. 

14.  removed  :  '  started  off' ;  the  original  meaning  of  the  Heb. 
verb  is  to  '  pull  up '  the  tent-pegs,  preparatory  to  a  migration. 

15.  overfloweth:  i  Chron.  xii.  15;  Ecclus.  xxiv.  26,  'full  as 
Jordan  in  the  days  of  harvest.'  The  Jordan  valley  widens  to 
fourteen  miles  at  Jericho.  Within  this  valley  lies  a  deeper  bed, 
varying  to  a  mile  in  width,  full  of  semi-tropical  vegetation,  and 
marking  the  wider  flow  of  the  river  in  annual  flood.  '  The  river 
itself  is  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  feet  broad,  a  rapid,  muddy  water 
with  a  zig-zag  current.  The  depth  varies  from  three  feet  at  some 
fords  to  as  much  as  ten  or  twelve '  (H.  G.H.L .,  pp.  482-6).  The  fact 
that  the  river  is  at  its  harvest  (April)  flood  is  stated  here  to  in- 
crease the  marvel  of  the  miracle. 

16.  Above  the  place  of  crossing  the  water  dams  itself;  below, 


282  JOSHUA  3.  17—4.  3.     JE  R°  JE 

came  down  from  above  stood,  and  rose  up  in  one  heap, 
a  great  way  ^off,  at  Adam,  the  city  that  is  beside  Zarethan: 
and  those  that  went  down  toward  the  sea  of  the  ^  Arabah, 
even  the  Salt  Sea,  were  wholly  cut  off:  and  the  people 

17  passed  over  right  against  Jericho.  And  the  priests  that 
bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  stood  firm  on 
dry  ground  in  the  midst  of  Jordan,  [R°]  and  all  Israel 
passed  over  on  dry  ground,  until  all  the  nation  were 
passed  clean  over  Jordan. 

4  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  nation  were  clean 
passed  over  Jordan,  [JE]  that   the   Lord  spake  unto 

2  Joshua,  saying,  Take  you  twelve  men  out  of  the  people, 
out  of  every  tribe  a  man,  and  command  ye  them,  saying, 

3  Take  you  hence  out  of  the  midst  of  Jordan,  out  of  the 
place  where  the  priests'  feet  stood  firm,  twelve  stones, 

*  Another  reading  is,  off  from.  ^  See  Deut.  i.  i. 

it  is  conceived  as  running  dry  to  the  Dead  (here  called  the  Salt) 
Sea.  (The  saltness,  due  to  evaporation  without  outlet,  is  said 
to  be  five  times  that  of  the  ocean  :  H.G.H.L.,  p.  501.) 

a  great  way  oflF:  specifying  the  distance  of  the  dammed  water 
from  the  crossing ;  whilst  the  Hebrew  editorial  reading  ('  oflf 
from  Adam/  cited  R.  V.  marg.)  notes  the  extent  of  the  waters  ; 
the  former  is  preferable. 

Adam,  the  city  that  is  beside  Zarethan  :  not  named  else- 
where. *  An  echo  of  this  name  may  very  plausibly  be  found  in 
Tell  ed-Damieh,  and  Jisr  ed-Damieh,  names  of  a  hill  and  bridge  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Jabbok  [Zerkd)  with  the  Jordan,  some  six- 
teen miles  in  a  direct  line  above  the  ford  opposite  Jericho '  {E.B., 
58).  Zarethan  has  not  been  identified  (see  note  in  Century  Bible 
on  I  Kings  vii.  46). 

17.  clean  over :  i.  e.  completely,  an  old  usage  retained  from 
A.V.  ;  Heb.  *  had  finished  to  pass  over.'  The  continued  presence 
of  the  ark  in  the  river-bed  gives  the  people  confidence  against 
the  wall  of  waters,  and  is  probably  conceived  as  actually  holding 
the  waters  in  check  (see  on  vei^se  13  and  cf.  iv.  7). 

iv.  2,  3.  Cf.  iii.  12  (originally  following  these  verses). 

3.  stood  firm :  the  latter  word  is  grammaticallj'  awkward,  and 
probably  comes  from  iii.  17  ;  the  Heb.  word  for  '  stood  '  can  refer 
to  either  past  or  future,  but   in  the  present  arrangement  of  the 


JOSHUA  4.  4-9.     JE  R°  283 

and  carry  them  over  with  you,  and  lay  them  down  in  the 
lodging  place,  where  ye  shall  lodge  this  night.     Then  4 
Joshua  called  the  twelve  men,  whom  he  had  prepared  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  out  of  every  tribe  a  man :    and  5 
Joshua  said  unto  them,  Pass  over  before  the  ark  of  the 
Lord  your  God  into  the  midst  of  Jordan,  and  take  you 
up  every  man  of  you  a  stone  upon  his  shoulder,  according 
unto  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel  : 
that  this  may  be  a  sign  among  you,  that  when  your  6 
children  ask  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  mean  ye  by 
these  stones  ?  then  ye  shall  say  unto  them,  Because  the  7 
waters  of  Jordan  were  cut  off  before  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  ;  when  it  passed  over  Jordan,  the 
waters  of  Jordan  were  cut  off:  and  these  stones  shall  be 
for  a  memorial   unto  the  children  of  Israel  for  ever. 
And  the  children  of  Israel  did  so  as  Joshua  commanded,  8 
and  took  up  twelve  stones  out  of  the  midst  of  Jordan,  as 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Joshua,  according  to  the  number 
of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  they  carried 
them  over  with  them  unto  the  place  where  they  lodged, 
and  laid  them  down  there.     [R°]  And  Joshua  set  up  9 
twelve  stones  in  the  midst  of  Jordan,  in  the  place  where 
the  feet  of  the  priests  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant 

narrative,  it  must,  of  course,  be  understood  of  the  past.  The 
stones  here  are  to  be  taken  from  the  river-bed  itself,  for  erection 
at  Gilgal. 

5.  The  command  must  belong  to  a  point  in  the  original  narrative 
at  which  the  people  have  not  yet  crossed. 

the  ntuuber  of  tlie  tribes :  see  Introd.,  III.  3. 

6.  in  time  to  come:  verse  21;  Exod.  xiii.  14  ;  Deut.  vi.  20. 

9.  Note  that  the  twelve  stones  here  are  to  be  set  up  in  the 
river-bed  itself,  to  mark  the  resting-place  of  the  ark  during  the 
crossing.  Probably  the  writer  of  this  verse  could  point  to  such 
stones  as  actually  existent  in  his  day.  Steuemagel  suggests  that 
these  really  marked  the  ford,  but  were  explained  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Deut.  xxvii.  4*. 


284      JOSHUA  4.  10-18.     RD  JE  RD  P  R°  P  JE 

10  stood  :  and  they  are  there,  unto  this  day.  For  the  priests 
which  bare  the  ark  stood  in  the  njidst  of  Jordan,  until 
every  thing  was  finished  that  the  Lord  commanded 
Joshua  to  speak  unto  the  people,  according  to  all  that 
Moses  commanded  Joshua :  [JE]  and  the  people  hasted 

1 1  and  passed  over.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  people 
were  clean  passed  over,  that  the  ark  of  the  Lord  passed 
over,  and   the  priests,  in   the  presence  of  the  people. 

12  [R'°]  And  the  children  of  Reuben,  and  the  children  of 
Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  passed  over  armed 
before  the  children  of  Israel,  as  Moses  spake  unto  them : 

13  [P]  about  forty  thousand  ready  armed  for  war  passed 
over  before  the  Lord  unto  battle,  to  the  plains  of  Jericho. 

14  [R°]  On  that  day  the  Lord  magnified  Joshua  in  the 
sight  of  all  Israel ;  and  they  feared  him,  as  they  feared 
Moses,  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

15  [P]  And    the    Lord    spake    unto    Joshua,    saying, 

16  Command  the  priests  that  bear  the  ark  of  the  testimony, 

17  that  they  come  up  out  of  Jordan.  Joshua  therefore 
commanded   the   priests,   saying,   Come  ye  up  out  of 

18  Jordan.     [JE]  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  priests 

11.  and  the  priests,  in  the  presence  of  the  people:    the 

natural  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  is  *  and  the  priests  before  the 
people ' ;  but  the  people  have  left  the  priests  standing  in  the  river- 
bed, according  to  iii.  17  (cf.  iv.  3,  8,  10).  Some  take  'before'  as 
=  '  to  the  place  before,'  viz.  *the  priests  passed  over  to  the  head 
of  the  people'  (Bennett).  LXX  reads  *and  the  stones  before 
them '  (cf.  verse  8). 

12.  Cf.  i.  12-18 ;  Num.  xxxii.  20  f. 

13.  forty  thonsand :  the  whole  number  of  males  given  in  Num. 
xxvi.  7,  18,  34  is  about  three  times  as  great. 

the  plains  of  Jericho:  a  phrase  parallel  to  'the  plains  of 
Moab'  (Deut.  xxxiv.  i,  8),  which  is  characteristic  of  P  :  cf.  v.  10. 

14.  Cf.  iii.  7. 

16.  the  ark  of  the  testimony:  characteristic  of  P  (note  on  iii. 
3).  According  to  verse  11  (JE),  the  ark  has  already  come  up  from 
the  river-bed. 


JOSHUA  4.  19-24.     JE  P  JE  R°  285 

that  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  were  come 
up  out  of  the  midst  of  Jordan,  and  the  soles  of  the 
priests'  feet  were  lifted  up  unto  the  dry  ground,  that  the 
waters  of  Jordan  returned  unto  their  place,  and  went 
over   all  its  banks,  as  aforetime.     [P]  And  the  people  19 
came  up  out  of  Jordan  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first 
month,  and  encamped  in  Gilgal,  on  the  east  border  of 
Jericho.      [JE]  And   those   twelve   stones,  which   they  20 
took    out   of  Jordan,    did   Joshua   set    up    in    Gilgal. 
[R°]  And  he  spake  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  21 
When  your  children  shall  ask  their  fathers  in  time  to 
come,  saying,  What  mean  these  stones  ?  then  ye  shall  let  2  z 
your    children    know,    saying,    Israel    came    over    this 
Jordan  on  dry  land.     For  the  Lord  your  God  dried  up  23 
the   waters  of  Jordan   from  before  you,  until  ye  were 
passed  over,  as  the  Lord  your  God  did  to  the  Red  Sea, 
which  he  dried  up  from  before  us,  until  we  were  passed 
over  :    that  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  may  know  the  24 

18.  lifted  np;  'drawn  out'  (the  same  verb  as  in  viii.  16, 
*  drawn  away '). 

over  all  its  banks  :  i.  e.  in  the  harvest-flood,  named  in  iii.  15. 

19.  the  first  month :  i.  e.  Abib,  the  post-exilic  Nisan,  our 
April  (iii.  15  :  cf.  Exod.  xii.  2). 

Gilgal :  v.  9.     The  site  is  supposed  to  be  indicated  by  the 
mound  Tell  Jeljul,  about  a  mile  east  of  modern  Jericho  (E.B.,  1730). 

20.  The  stones  are  those  of  verse  8.  The  name  '  Gilgal '  means 
a  *  circle,'  as  of  stones  (see  on  v.  9).  Whether  they  were  now 
first  set  up  there,  or  were  really  a  *  cromlech '  of  earlier  date, 
such  as  is  still  to  be  seen  in  Galilee,  and  east  of  Jordan,  must 
remain  doubtful.  The  number  *  twelve,'  probably  of  astral  origin, 
figures  largely  in  connexion  with  sacred  objects  :  cf.  Exod.  xv.  27, 
xxiv.  4,  xxviii.  17  f.,  xxxix.  10  f.  ;  Lev.  xxiv.  5  ;  i  Kings  vii.  25, 
xviii.  31  (Zimmern  in  Die  Kcilinschriften  unddasA.  T.,^  p.  6291. 

21  f.  :  parallel  to  iv.  6f.  (JE^. 

24.  The  emendation  of  the  R.  V.  is  necessary  :  the  vowels  of 
the  Hebrew  Textus  Receptus  are  meant  to  express  '  that  ye 
might  fear.'  Notice  the  larger  outlook  of  this  passage  (R°),  as 
compared  with  the  simpler  statement  of  the  earlier  JE  (verse  7). 


286  JOSHUA  5.  I,  2.     R^  JE 

hand  of  the  Lord,  that  it  is  mighty;  that  ^they  may 
fear  the  Lord  your  God  for  ever. 

5  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  all  the  kings  of  the 
Amorites,  which  were  beyond  Jordan  westward,  and  all 
the  kings  of  the  Canaanites,  which  were  by  the  sea, 
heard  how  that  the  Lord  had  dried  up  the  waters  of 
Jordan  from  before  the  children  of  Israel,  until  ^  we  were 
passed  over,  that  their  heart  melted,  neither  was  there 
spirit  in  them  any  more,  because  of  the  children  of 
Israel. 

2      [JE]  x\t  that  time  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Make 

thee  knives  of  flint,  and  circumcise  again  the  children  of 

*  So  with  a  change  of  vowel-points.  The  pointing  of  the  text 
is  irregular.  ^  Another  reading  is,  they. 

V.  I-I2,  The  Camp  at  GilgaL  Terror  of  the  inhabitants  at  the 
news  of  the  miracle  (verse  i).  Joshua,  at  the  bidding  of  Yahweh, 
circumcises  the  males  born  since  the  Exodus  (verses  2-9).  The 
Passover  is  celebrated  at  Gilgal,  and  the  manna  now  ceases  (verses 
10-12). 

1.  Amorites  .  .  .  Canaanites:  see  on  Deut.  i.  7;  broadly 
speaking,  the  inhabitants  of  the  highlands  and  lowlands  respectively 
are  thus  designated  {not  etymologically). 

until  we  were   passed   over:    read  with    the   Massoretic 
editors,  some  MSS.  and  the  versions,  as  in  R.  V.  marg.  '  they.' 

2.  knives  of  flint :  Exod.  iv.  25  ;  a  case  of  the  survival  of  stone 
instruments  into  an  iron  age,  due  to  religious  conservatism,  found 
amongst  the  Egyptians  in  circumcision  (Nowack,  Arch.  i.  167, 
note  2),  and  in  embalming  (Herod,  ii.  86)  ;  just  as,  in  Peru,  the 
ceremonial  hair-cutting  of  a  child  at  two  years  was  done  with 
a  stone  knife  (Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii.  p.  435). 

circumcise  :  new  light  seems  to  be  thrown  on  the  origin  of 
this  widespread  custom  by  recent  researches  into  the  practices 
of  Australian  aborigines,  amongst  whom  it  is  found  side  by  side 
with  the  much  more  serious  mutilation  known  as  *  sub-incision ' 
(Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  p.  263  ; 
Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  p.  133).  The  explanation  of 
the  one  must  be  applicable  to  the  other,  and  no  sanitary  or 
utilitarian  explanation  will  suffice  for  sub-incision.  Circumcision 
I  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  mutilation  originally  connected  with 
;    marriage,  made  to  propitiate  supernatural  powers  (e.  g.  demons) 


JOSHUA  5.  3-6.     JE  R°  287 

Israel  the  second  time.     And  Joshua  made  him  knives  3 
of  flint,  and  circumcised  the  children  of  Israel  at  *''the 
hill  of  the  foreskins.      [R°]  And  this  is  the  cause  why  4 
Joshua  did  circumcise  :  all  the  people  that  came  forth 
out  of  Egypt,  that  were  males,  even  all  the  men  of  war, 
died  in  the  wilderness  by  the  way,  after  they  came  forth 
out  of  Egypt.     For  all  the  people  that  came  out  were  5 
circumcised  :   but  all  the  people  that  were  born  in  the 
wilderness  by  the  way  as  they  came  forth  out  of  Egypt, 
they  had  not  circumcised.      For  the  children  of  Israel  d 
walked  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  till  all  the  nation, 
even  the  men  of  war  which  came  forth  out  of  Egypt,  were 
consumed,  because  they  hearkened  not  unto  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  :  unto  whom  the  Lord  sware  that  he  would 
not  let  them  see  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware  unto 

•'  Or,  Gibeafh-ha-amloth 


by  partial  sacrifice  of  the  organ.  Consequently,  it  is  practised  at 
initiation  into  manhood.  This  explanation  finds  support  from 
West  Africa  (Ellis,  The  Yoiiiba- Speaking  Peoples^  p.  66).  Cf. 
Crawley,  The  Mystic  Rose,  p.  300.  In  the  normal  Hebrew  rite, 
two  modifications  have  been  introduced  :  {a)  its  transference  s 
from  puberty  to  infancy,  (6)  its  assimilation  into  the  worship  of 
Yahweh.  See  the  articles  on  'Circumcision'  in  D.B.  and  E.B.,  and 
the  note  in  Driver's  Genesis,  pp.  189-91. 

3.  th.e  hill  of  the  foreskins :  R.  V.  marg.  transliterates  the 
Hebrew  of  the  phrase,  on  the  assumption  that  it  might  be  a  proper 
name.  The  phrase  probably  refers,  as  Stade  suggests,  to  some  , 
local  custom  of  circumcising  young  men  at  the  sanctuary  of  Gilgal  ; 
(Judges  ii.  i  ;  much  frequented  in  the  eighth  century :  cf.  Amos 
iv.  4f.,  V.  5;  Hos.  iv.  15,  ix.  15,  xii.  11),  where  the  foreskins 
were  buried. 

4.  after  they  came  forth:  'in  their  exodus'  (Deut.  iv.  45). 
Cf.  Deut.  ii.  14-16. 

4-7.  The  redactor  does  not  explain  why  circumcision  did  not 
take  place  on  the  way,  if  previously  instituted.  His  aim  may  be 
to  harmonize  the  institution  of  circumcision  by  Joshua  at  Gilgal 
with  the  view  subsequently  expressed  by  P  (Gen.  xvii),  that  it 
was  instituted  by  Abraham.     Tlie  reference  to  Zipporah's  son  in 


288  JOSHUA  5.  7-1 1.     R°  JE  P 

their  fathers  that  he  would  give  us,  a  land  flowing  with 

7  milk  and  honey.     And  their  children,  whom  he  raised  up 

in  their  steady  them  did  Joshua  circumcise  :  for  they  were 

uncircumcised,  because  they  had  not  circumcised  them 

S  by  the  way.     [JE]  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  had 

done  circumcising  all   the   nation,  that   they  abode  in 

9  their  places  in  the  camp,  till  they  were  whole.     And  the 

Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  This  day  have  I  rolled  away  the 

reproach  of  Egypt  from  off  you.     Wherefore  the  name  of 

that  place  was  called  ^  Gilgal,  unto  this  day. 

10  [P]  And  the  children  of  Israel  encamped  in  Gilgal; 
and  they  kept  the  passover  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 

11  month  at  even  in  the  plains  of  Jericho.     And  they  did 
eat  of  the  ^  old  corn  of  the  land  on  the  morrow  after  the 

*  That  is,  Rolling.  ^  Or,  produce    Or,  corn 

Exod.  iv.  24-6  perhaps  refers  to  the  transition  from  the  circum- 
cision of  puberty  to  that  of  infancy,  and  '  does  not  at  all  necessarily 
imply  that  J  conceived  circumcision  to  have  been  universal  in 
Egypt '  {Oxf.  Hex.,  ii.  p.  327).  RD  has  probably  added  *  again,'  and 
'  a  second  time  '  in  verse  2  ;  but  verse  9  seems  to  imply  that  Israel 
was  not  circumcised  in  Egypt. 

8.  till  they  were  whole :  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  are 
perhaps  represented  as  too  terrified  at  the  miraculous  crossing  to 
use  this  opportunity  for  attack  (verse  i). 

9.  the  reproach  of  Egypt :  i.  e.  the  scorn  of  the  circumcised 
Egyptians  for  the  (then)  uncircumcised  Israelites.  Note  how 
widely  this  representation  differs  from  that  of  Gen.  xvii  (P). 

Oilgral :  the  play  on  the  name  (R.  V.  marg.)  is  not,  of  course, 
a  genuine  etymology,  since  the  name  properly  denotes,  here  as 
elsewhere,  a  '  circle  '  of  stones  (iv.  19,  20).  Such  word-plays  are, 
however,  common  in  the  O.  T.  (e.  g.  Gen.  iv.  i,  25,  v.  29,  xxix. 
32 f.);  the  verb galal  does  mean  '  roll,'  though  'Gilgal'  does  not 
mean  '  rolling'  (R.  V.  marg.). 

10.  The  celebration  of  the  Passover  (P  :  cf.  iv.  19)  has  been 
purposely  prefaced,  as  Dillmann  points  out,  by  the  observance  of 
circumcision  (Exod.  xii.  44,  48). 

on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even :  Exod.  xii.  6  f. 
passover :  see  on  Deut.  xvi.  i. 

11.  old  corn :  rather,  R.  V.  marg.',  '  produce  *  (so  in  next  verse, 
here  only). 


JOSHUA  5.  12,  13.     P  JE  289 

passover,   unleavened  cakes  and  parched  corn,  in    the 
selfsame  day.     And  the  manna  ceased  on  the  morrow,  12 
after  they  had  eaten  of  the  *  old  corn  of  the  land  ;  neither 
had  the  children  of  Israel  manna  any  more  ;  but  they  did 
eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  land  of  Canaan  that  year. 

[JE]  And   it   came   to   pass,    when    Joshua   was    by  13 
"■  Or,  produce     Or,  corn 

tiulsavened  cakes  :  Exod.  xii.  20 ;  unleavened  bread  was  to 
be  eaten  for  seven  days,  from  the  evening  of  the  14th  to  that  of 
the  2ist.  This  originally  formed  a  separate  festival,  but  was  com- 
bined with  that  of  the  Passover  (see  on  Deut.  xvi). 

parched  corn:  Lev.  ii.  14,  xxiii.  14;  Ruth  ii.  14;  i  Sam. 
xvii.  17.  'Ears  of  grain,  barely  ripe,  roasted  at  the  fire  and  eaten 
instead  of  bread.  This  is  still  an  article  of  food  in  the  East' 
{S.B.O. T.  *  Leviticus,'  ad  loc.,p.  94).  Lev.  xxiii.  14  (of  firstfruits) 
is  here  disregarded. 

12.  manua:  Exod.  xvi.  35. 

v.  13 — vi.  27.  An  armed  man  appears  to  Joshua,  and  declares 
himself  the  leader  of  the  angels  of  Yahweh  (v.  13-15)  ;  Yahweh 
instructs  Joshua  as  to  the  capture  of  Jericho  (vi.  1-5).  After  the 
necessary  preparations  (verses  6,  7),  the  ark  is  carried  once  in 
solemn  procession  round  Jericho,  seven  priests  blowing  horns, 
but  the  fighting  men  keeping  silence  (verses  8-1  r).  This  is 
repeated  up  to  six  successive  days  (verses  12-14).  On  the 
seventh  day  the  circuit  is  made  seven  times,  at  the  last  of  which 
the  warriors  are  directed  to  raise  a  battle-cry  (verses  15,  16). 
Joshua  orders  that  Rahab  and  her  family  shall  be  spared,  but 
all  other  persons  and  things  '  devoted  '  to  Yahweh  (verses  17-19). 
At  the  shout  accompanying  the  seventh  circuit  on  the  seventh 
day  the  walls  of  Jericho  fall,  the  city  is  taken,  and  Joshua's 
orders  are  obeyed  (verses  20-5).  Joshua  attaches  a  curse  to  the 
rebuilding  of  Jericho  (verse  26).     Joshua's  renown  (verse  27). 

That  this  narrative  itself  is  composite  is  clear  from  the  doublet 
of  vi.  20  (two  shouts,  one  at  the  bidding  of  Joshua,  verses  10, 
16,  the  other  at  the  signal  of  the  horn,  verse  5)  ;  that  of  the 
rescue  of  Rahab  (verses  22,  23,  cf.  verse  25) ;  and  that  of  the 
destruction  of  the  city  (verse  21,  cf.  verse  24)  ;  whilst  verses  8,  9, 
and  again  verses  i']^,  18  interrupt  the  present  order.  The  analysis 
of  this  confused  story  is  too  uncertain  to  be  attempted  above. 

V.  13-15.  The  '  captain  of  Yahweh's  host,'  who  speaks  in  y.  15, 
was  not  originally  identified  with  Yahweh,  who  speaks  in  vi.  af., 
nor  is  Joshua  represented  in  vi.  6  f.  as  being  still  at  the  place  of 
the  vision. 


290  JOSHUA  5.  14—6.  3.     JE 

Jericho,  that  he  hfted  up  his  eyes  and  looked,  and,  be- 
hold, there  stood  a  man  over  against  him  with  his  sword 
drawn  in  his  hand  :  and  Joshua  went  unto  him,  and 
said  unto  him,  Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our  adversaries  ? 

14  And  he  said.  Nay;  but  as  ^captain  of  the  host  of  the 
Lord  am  I  now  come.  And  Joshua  fell  on  his  face  to 
the   earth,   and  did  worship,  and  said  unto  him.  What 

1 5  saith  my  lord  unto  his  servant  ?  And  the  captain  of  the 
Lord's  host  said  unto  Joshua,  Put  off  thy  shoe  from  off 
thy  foot ;   for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy. 

6  And  Joshua  did  so.  (Novv  Jericho  ^  was  straitly  shut  up 
because  of  the  children  of  Israel :    none  went  out,  and 

2  none  came  in.)  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  See, 
I  have   given   into  thine  hand  Jericho,  and   the   king 

3  thereof,  and  the  mighty  men  of  valour.     And  ye  shall 

*  Or,  prince  ^  Heb.  shut  the  gates  and  was  shut  in. 

The  original  substance  of  the  message  which  followed  verse  15 
has  therefore  been  replaced  by  what  now  follows.  This  mani- 
festation should  be  compared  with  the  somewhat  similar  experience 
of  Moses  (Exod.  iii.  2-5)  at  the  outset  of  his  mission.  On  the 
underlying  conceptions,  see  Introd.,  IV.  3. 

13.  over  ag-ainst :  'before,' 

his  sword  drawn :    so  of  the  angel  appearing  to  Balaam 
(Num.  xxii.  23,  31),  and  to  David  (i  Ciiron.  xxi.  i6). 

14.  the  host  of  Yahweh:  i.  e.  the  angels  (i  Kings  xxii.  19; 
Gen.  xxxii.  i,  2:  cf.  2  Kings  vi,  17,  of  the  invisible  forces  of 
Yahweh,  on  the  side  of  His  people).  In  Dan.  viii.  11  the  'cap- 
tain of  the  host'  may  possibly  mean  God  Himself.  (For  the  idea 
of  the  stars  as  Yahweh' s  warrior-host,  see  Zimmern  in  Die 
Keilinschriften  ^,  pp.  439,  456.) 

15.  Pat  ofF  thy  sho3 :  Exod.  iii.  5;  here,  probably,  with 
reference  to  the  sacredness  of  Gilgal  itself  (in  original  narrative). 
Divine  or  supernatural  appearances  are  specials  connected  with 
sanctuaries ;  e.  g.  to  Jacob  at  Bethel  (Gen.  xxviii.  12),  whilst  the 
messenger  of  Yahweh  comes  from  Gilgal  (Judges  ii.  i).  Priests 
are  apparently  described  by  P  as  entering  the  sanctuary  barefoot 
(Exod.  xxix.  20;  Lev.  viii.  231,  with  which  the  parallel  practices 
of  modern  Samaritans  and  Mohammedans  maybe  compared. 

vi.  I  should  precede  v.  13. 


JOSHUA  6.  4-S.     JE  291 

compass  the  city,  all  the  men  of  war,  going  about  the  city 
once.     Thus  shalt  thou  do  six  days.     And  seven  priests  4 
shall  bear  seven  *  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  before  the  ark  : 
and   the   seventh  day  ye  shall  compass  the  city  seven 
times,    and   the   priests  shall    blow  with  the  trumpets. 
And  it  shall  be,  that  when  they  make  a  long  blast  with  5 
the   ram's  horn,  and  when  ye  hear  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  all  the  people  shall  shout  with  a  great  shout ; 
and  the  wall  of  the  city  shall  fall  down  ^  flat,  and  the 
people  shall  go  up  every  man  straight  before  him.     And  6 
Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  called  the  priests,  and  said  unto 
them.  Take  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  let  seven 
priests  bear  seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  before  the  ark 
of  the  Lord.     And  ^  they  said  unto  the  people.  Pass  on,  7 
and  compass  the  city,  and  let  the  armed  men  pass  on 
before  the  ark  of  the  Lord.     And  it  was  so,  that  when  8 
Joshua  had  spoken  unto  the  people,  the  seven  priests 

"■  Or,  j'libile  tyiimpets  ^  Heb.  in  its  place. 

^  Another  reading  is,  he. 


4.  seven :  the  sacredness  of  the  number  is  variously  emphasized, 
as  giving  these  sevenfold  acts  a  supernatural  power  ;  the  sevenfold 
circuit  isolates  the  city  for  Yahweh.  This  belief  in  the  sacredness 
of 'seven,'  held  also  in  Egypt  and  India,  is  specially  prominent 
in  Babylonia,  with  its  seven  planets,  seven  evil  spirits,  and  seven- 
walled  underworld.  It  is  extensively  illustrated  both  in  the  O.T. 
(periods  of  time,  the  week,  altars,  wells,  lamps,  sprinkling  of 
blood,  &c.)  and  in  the  late  Jewish  Apocalypses  (E.B.,  3436  ;  Rel. 
Sent.,  p.  181).     The  verb  'swear,'  in  Hebrew,  appears  to  mean 

*  bind  oneself  by  seven.* 

trumpets  of  ra-ms'  horns :    Hebrew  simply  *  rams'  horns.' 

*  Horn  '  should  be  read  for  '  trumpet '  throughout  this  chapter. 

7.  they  must  refer  to  the  priests ;  the  original  reading, 
followed  by  the  Hebrew  editors  and  the  versions,  is  probably 
that  of  R.  V.  marg.  (with  reference  to  Joshua,  cf.  verse  16 ''). 

8.  The  first  part  of  the  verse  (to  '  people  ')  is  omitted  by  LXX, 
which  renders  the  verbs  in  verses  8,  9  by  imperatives  (e.  g.  '  let 
the  priests  pass  on ') ;  so  that  these  verses,  instead  of  being  narrative, 

U   2 


292  JOSHUA  6.  9-16.     JE 

bearing  the  seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  before  the 
Lord  passed  on,  and  blew  with  the  trumpets  :  and  the 
9  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  followed  them.  And 
the  armed  men  went  before  the  priests  that  blew  the 
trumpets,  and  the  rearward  went  after  the  ark,  the  priests 

10  blowing  with  the  trumpets  as  they  went.  And  Joshua 
commanded  the  people,  saying,  Ye  shall  not  shout,  nor 
let  your  voice  be  heard,  neither  shall  any  word  proceed 
out  of  your  mouth,  until  the  day  I  bid  you  shout ;  then 

11  shall  ye  shout.  So  he  caused  the  ark  of  the  Lord  to 
compass  the  city,  going  about  it  once  :  and  they  came 
into  the  camp,  and  lodged  in  the  camp. 

1 2  And  Joshua  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  priests 

13  took  up  the  ark  of  the  Lord.  And  the  seven  priests 
bearing  the  seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  before  the  ark 
of  the  Lord  went  on  continually,  and  blew  with  the 
trumpets :  and  the  armed  men  went  before  them ;  and 
the  rearward  came  after  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  tJu  priests 

14  blowing  with  the  trumpets  as  they  went.  And  the  second 
day  they  compassed  the  city  once,  and  returned  into  the 

15  camp:  so  they  did  six  days.  And  it  came  to  pass  on 
the  seventh  day,  that  they  rose  early  at  the  dawning  of 
the  day,  and  compassed  the  city  after  the  same  manner 
seven  times :  only  on  that  day  they  compassed  the  city 

16  seven  times.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  seventh  time, 
when  the  priests  blew  with  the  trumpets,  Joshua  said 
unto  the  people.  Shout ;  for  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the 

become  part  of  the  instructions  of  Joshua.  The  narrative  proper 
will  then  begin  at  verse  11.  This  avoids  the  interruption  of 
Joshua's  address. 

9.  rearward :  as  in  Num.  x.  25  ffiguratively  of  Yahweh,  Isa.  liii. 
12)  ;  here  simply  of  armed  men  after,  like  those  before  the  ark. 
The  '  people  '  in  this  procession  will  naturally  be  the  *  men  of 
war  '  alone  (verse  3). 


JOSHUA  d.  17-20.     JE  R°  JE  293 

cily.    And  the  city  shall  be  "devoted,  even  it  and  all  that  17 

is  therein,  to  the  Lord  :  [R^]  only  Rahab  the  harlot  shall 

live,  she  and  all  that  are  with  her  in  the  house,  because 

she  hid  the  messengers  that  we  sent.     And  ye,  in  any  18 

wise  keep  yourselves  from  the  devoted  thing,  lest  when 

ye  have  devoted  it,  ye  take  of  the  devoted  thing;   so 

should  ye   make   the   camp   of  Israel   ^accursed,   and 

trouble  it.    [JE]  But  all  the  silver,  and  gold,  and  vessels  of  19 

brass  and  iron,  are  holy  unto  the  Lord  :  they  shall  come 

into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord.     So  the  people  shouted,  20 

and  the  priests  blew  with  the  trumpets  :  and  it  came  to 

pass,  when  the  people  heard  the  sound  of  the  trumpet, 

that  the  people  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  and  the  wall 

fell  down  ^  flat,  so  that  the  people  went  up  into  the  city, 

every  man  straight  before  him,  and  they  took  the  city. 

*  See  Lev.  xxvii.  28,  Deut.  xx.  17.  ''  Heb.  devoted. 

"  Heb.  in  its  place. 

17.  devoted:  see  note  on  Deut.  xx.  17. 

18.  when  ye  have  devoted  it:  read  with  LXX  (cf.  vii,  21, 
'  when  ye  desire  it '  (Deut.  vii.  25),  which  imphes  a  very  slight 
change  in  the  Hebrew  consonants. 

trouble  :  Heb.  achar,  from  which  the  name  Achor  is  derived 
(vii.  24,  26)  ;  a  stronger  term  than  the  English  rendering  suggests 
(cf.  Gen.  xxxiv.  30). 

19.  brass :  here,  and  elsewhere  in  O.  T.,  bronze,  i.  e.  copper 
hardened  by  about  10  per  cent,  of  tin.  An  analysis  of  some 
ancient  bronzes  is  given  in  S.B.O.T.,  ad  loc. 

holy  unto  Yahweh :  i.e.  'separated'  for  Him  ;  see  E.B, 
*■  Clean  and  Unclean.' 

treasury  :  see  verse  24  (note). 

20.  The  narrative  is  meant  to  describe  a  purely  miraculous 
event ;  but,  as  G.  A.  Smith  points  out  in  his  review  of  the  histor}' 
of  Jericho,  '  in  war  she  has  always  been  easily  taken.  That  her  | 
walls  fell  down  at  the  sound  of  Joshua's  trumpets  is  no  exaggera- ' 
tion,  but  the  soberest  summary  of  all  her  history.'  He  indicates 
two  causes  for  this  military  weakness,  viz.  the  character  of  the 
surrounding  country  (hills  behind  easy  to  occupy  ;  partial  control 
of  water  supply),  and  the  enervating  climate  of  the  Jordan  Valley 
in  its  effects  on  the  inhabitants  JI.G.H  L..  p.  a68}. 


294  JOSHUA  6.  21-26.     JE 

21  And  they  -"utterly  destroyed  all  that  was  in  the  city^  both 
man  and  woman,  both  young  and  old,  and  ox,  and  sheep, 

22  and  ass,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword.  And  Joshua  said 
unto  the  two  men  that  had  spied  out  the  land.  Go  into 
the  harlot's  house,  and  bring  out  thence  the  woman,  and 

23  all  that  she  hath,  as  ye  sware  unto  her.  And  the  young 
men  the  spies  went  in,  and  brought  out  Rahab,  and  her 
father,  and  her  mother,  and  her  brethren,  and  all  that 
she  had,  all  her  b kindred  also  they  brought  out;  and 

M  they  set  them  without  the  camp  of  Israel.  And  they 
burnt  the  city  mth  fire,  and  all  that  was  therein  :  only 
the  silver,  and  the  gold,  and  the  vessels  of  brass  and  of 
iron,  they  put  into  the  treasury  of  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

25  But  Rahab  the  harlot,  and  her  father's  household,  and 
all  that  she  had,  did  Joshua  save  alive;  and  she  dwelt 
in  the  midst  of  Israel,  unto  this  day ;  because  she  hid 
the  messengers,  which  Joshua  sent  to  spy  out  Jericho. 

26  And  Joshua  charged  them  with  an  oath  at  that  time, 
saying,  Cursed  be  the  man  before  the  Lord,  that  riseth 

*  Heb.  devoted.         ^  Heb.  families. 

22.  as  ye  sware  irnto  her  :  ii.  14-20.    But  cf.  ii.  15  with  vi.  20. 

23.  without  the  camp  :  for  the  camp  is  to  be  holy  (Deut.  xxiii. 
14)  ;  and  they  are  heathen,  and  therefore  '  unclean '  (cf.  Num.  v.  3, 
xxxi.  19). 

24.  treasury  of  the  house  of  Yahweh :  LXX  omits  *  house  '  ; 
if  the  phrase  is  to  be  understood  of  the  temple,  it  is  of  course  an 
anachronism  (cf.  i  Chron.  xxix.  8  ;  Joshua  ix.  23  :  cf.  Exod. 
xxiii.  19). 

25.  in  the  midst  of  Israel :  xiii.  13 ;  Deut.  xvii.  20 ;  nnto  this 
day :  i.  e.  as  represented  by  her  descendants. 

26.  charired  them  with  an  oath :  rather,  '  caused  them  to 
swear.' 

Cursed:  the  root-meaning  of  the  word  ('bound')  sugfgests 
the  primitive  attitude  towards  such  a  formula  (often  metrical), 
which  has  a  magical  power  to  vindicate  itself  (cf.  E.B.,  *  Blessings 
and  Curses').  The  beginning  and  the  completion  of  a  city  on  this 
site  shall  cost  the  founder  his  children.  The  fulfilment  of  this 
curse  is  said  to  have  come  on  Hiel  (i  Kings  xvi.  34),  as  LXX 


JOSHUA  6.  27—7.  I.     JE  P  29s 

up  and  buildeth  this  city  Jericho :  with  the  loss  of  his 
firstborn  shall  he  lay  the  foundation  thereof,  and  with 
the  loss  of  his  youngest  son  shall  he  set  up  the  gates  of 
it.     So  the  Lord  was  with  Joshua  ;  and  his  fame  was  in  27 
all  the  land. 

[P]  But  the  children  of  Israel  committed  a  trespass  in  the  7 
devoted  thing :  for  Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi,  the  son  of 
Zabdi,  the  son  of  Zerah,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  took  of 
the  devoted  thing  :  and  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kin- 
dled against  the  children  of  Israel. 

here  adds  (though  the  name  is  different") ;  possibly  the  misfortunes 
of  Hiel  led  to  the  ascription  of  the  curse  to  Joshua.  Jericho,  at 
any  rate,  is  still  standing  in  Joshua  xviii.  21  ;  Judges  iii.  13  (see 
on  Joshua  ii.  i)  ;  2  Sam.  x.  5.  Kuenen  thinks  that  sacrifice  of 
the  two  sons  was  originally  in  view  (p.  240).  Cf.  Skinner's  note 
in  the  Century  Bible,  i  Kings  xvi.  34.  For  parallels  to  the  curse 
amongst  other  nations,  see S.B.  O. T., adloc.,wheTe  Troy, Carthage, 
and  Kirrha  are  named. 

vii.  The  Sin  of  Achan.  An  attack  on  Ai,  made  confidently,  but 
with  insufficient  forces,  is  defeated  with  some  loss  (verses  1-5). 
Joshua  appeals  to  Yahweh,  for  His  name's  sake  (verses  6-9). 
Yahweh  declares  that  the  defeat  is  due  to  Israel's  failure  to 
*  devote  '  Jericho  wholly  (verses  10-13),  and  bids  Joshua  take 
measures  to  ascertain  the  culprit  (verses  13-15).  This  having 
been  done,  Achan  is  revealed  as  the  sinner  (verses  16-18),  and,  at 
Joshua's  adjuration,  he  makes  confession  of  his  theft,  and  of  the 
hiding-place  of  the  '  devoted '  articles  (verses  19-21).  These,  with 
Achan,  all  his  family,  and  all  his  possessions,  are  taken  to  a  suit- 
able place,  the  living  stoned  to  death,  and  all  burnt ;  a  cairn  of 
stones  is  erected  over  them  (verses  22-6). 

No  agreement  in  detail  has  been  reached  as  to  the  distribution 
of  this  chapter  between  J  and  E.  Bennett  and  Holzinger  regard 
it  as  composite,  but  unanalysable ;  Steuernagel  assigns  it  mainly 
to  E,  the  Oxf,  Hex.  mainly  to  J. 

1.  committed  a  trespass  :  '  acted  faithlessly'  :  cf.  xxii.  20  (P, 
of  whom  the  word  is  characteristic,  Lev.  v.  15,  as  is  that  for 
'  tribe,'  here  and  in  a  clause  belonging  to  R^  in  verse  18  (niaffe/i)). 
Achan:  the  name  is  modified  into  an  epithet  in  i  Chron.  ii. 
7  :  '  Achar  the  troubler  (same  consonants)  of  Israel,  who  acted 
faithlessly  in  the  herein.^ 

Israel :  *  Achan's  breach  of  a  taboo  involves  the  whole  host ' 
Rcl.  Sem.,  p.  162). 


296  JOSHUA  7.  2-6.     JE 

[JE]  And  Joshua  sent  men  from  Jericho  to  Ai,  which 
is  beside  Beth-aven,  on  the  east  side  of  Beth-el,  and 
spake  unto  them,  saying,  Go  up  and  spy  out  the  land. 

3  And  the  men  went  up  and  spied  out  Ai.  And  they 
returned  to  Joshua,  and  said  unto  him,  Let  not  all  the 
people  go  up ;  but  let  about  two  or  three  thousand  men 
go  up  and  smite  Ai ;    make  not  all  the  people  to  toil 

4  thither  ;  for  they  are  but  few.  So  there  went  up  thither 
of  the  people  about  three  thousand  men :  and  they  fled 

5  before  the  men  of  Ai.  And  the  men  of  Ai  smote  of 
them  about  thirty  and  six  men :  and  they  chased  them 
from  before  the  gate  even  unto  ^Shebarim,  and  smote 
them  at  the  going  down :  and  the  hearts  of  the  people 

6  melted,  and  became  as  water.  And  Joshua  rent  his 
clothes,  and  fell  to  the  earth  upon  his  face  before  the 

*  Or,  the  quarries 

2.  Ai :  (Heb.  //m  =  Aija,  Aiath)  viii.  iif.  ;  probably  to  be 
identified  with  Haiyan.  'There  is  a  deep  ravine  to  the  north,  an 
open  valley  to  the  west,  and  a  flat  plain  to  south  and  east.  This 
site  is  2^  miles  south-east  of  Bethel,  and  on  the  road  thence  to 
the  Jordan  Valley.  It  is  evidently  the  site  of  an  ancient  town, 
with  rock-cut  tombs'  (Conder,  in  D.B.,  s.v.).  Cf,  Gen.  xii.  8; 
Isa.  X.  28  ;  Ezra  ii,  28.  It  lay  on  the  road  from  the  Jordan 
Valley  to  Bethel,  a  natural  route  for  invaders  to  take  who  were 
making  for  the  centre  of  the  country  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  264). 

Beth-aven  (xviii.  12  ;  i  Sam,  xiii.  5),  not  identified. 

3.  We  are  perhaps  meant  to  see  the  first  working  of  the  stolen 
hereni  in  this  unjustified  expression  of  confidence.  In  the  sequel, 
at  Yahweh's  command  (viii.  1),  all  the  warriors  are  taken. 

5.  unto  Shebarim  :  lit.  '  breakings,'  not  known  as  a  place-name. 
The  chief  versions,  with  a  different  vocalization  of  the  consonants, 
render  '  until  they  were  broken.' 

6.  rent  his  clothes,  &c.  :  parallels,  partial  or  complete,  maj' 
be  found  in  the  mourning  of  Jacob  for  Joseph  (Gen.  xxxvii.  34)  ; 
of  the  messenger  from  Gilboa  (2  Sam.  i.  2)  ;  of  David,  at  the 
report  of  the  murder  of  his  sons  by  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xiii.  31^  ; 
and  in  the  grief  of  Joseph's  brethren  (Gen.  xliv.  13),  and  of  Job's 
friends  (Job  ii.  i2)„  The  rent  clothes  are  probably  the  modifica- 
tion of  an  earlier  mutilation  of  the  flesh  for  the  dead  (Deut.  xiv. 


JOSHUA  7.  7-11.     JE  297 

ark  of  the  Lord  until  the  evening,  he  and  the  elders  of 
Israel ;  and  they  put  dust  upon  their  heads.     And  Joshua  7 
said,  Alas,   O   Lord   God,  wherefore   hast   thou  at  all 
brought  this  people  over  Jordan,  to  deliver  us  into  the 
hand  of  the  Amorites,  to  cause  us  to  perish  ?  would  that 
we  had  been  content  and  dwelt  beyond   Jordan !    Oh  8 
Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  after  that   Israel   hath   turned 
their  backs  before  their  enemies  !     For  the  Canaanites  9 
and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  shall  hear  of  it,  and 
shall  compass  us  round,  and  cut  off  our  name  from  the 
earth  :  and  what  wilt  thou  do  for  thy  great  name  ?     And  i 
the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Get  thee  up ;  wherefore  art 
thou  thus  fallen  upon   thy  face  ?    Israel  hath  sinned ;  i ' 
yea,  they  have  even  transgressed  my  covenant  which  I 
commanded  them  :    yea,   they  have  even  taken  of  the 
devoted  thing ;    and  have  also  stolen,  and  dissembled 

i\  here  transferred  from  mourning  to  grief  in  general;  whilst 
m uurners  also  were  accustomed  to  strew  dust,  taken  from  the 
grave,  on  their  heads  (see  E.B.,  c.  3222). 

the  elders  of  Israel:   Deut,  v.  23,  xix.   12,  xxi.  2f.,   19  f., 
xxii.  15  f.,  XXV.  7  f.,  xxix.  10,  xxxi.  9,  28. 
*7.  Cf.  Exod,  xiv.  1 1  f.  ;  Num.  xiv.  2  f. 

9.  oixr  name  .  .  .  thy  name :  illustrating  two  of  the  pregnant 
usages  of  name  '  in  the  O.  T.  ;  in  the  former  case  for  the  national 
existence  (Isa.  Iv.  13  :  cf.  Deut.  vii.  24,  ix.  14),  in  the  latter,  for  the 
revealed  character  of  Yahv^^eh  i  Sam.  xii.  22  ;  Jer.  xliv.  26;  Ezek. 
xxxvi.  23"),  For  this  identification  of  the  interests  of  Israel  with 
the  honour  of  Yahweh,  cf.  Deut.  ix.  28,  and  Introd.,  IV.  4.  '  What- 
ever the  primitive  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  "sem  and  the  Ass3'rian 
himu  may  have  been,  it  was  not  merely  '•  name''  in  our  sense  of 
the  word,  but  something  much  fuller,  which  would  be  applicable 
to  all  forms  of  divine  manifestation'  (Cheyne,  in  E.B.,  c.  3268% 

10.  Yahweh  diverts  the  thoughts  of  Joshua  from  the  crushing 
experience  of  Divine  desertion  to  its  moral  cause  and  to  the  need 
for  action. 

11.  The  sin  of  Israel  is  stated  in  five  successive  points,  viz.  the 
overstepping  of  the  covenant  (here  the  injunction  of  vi.  17,  18  :  cf, 
Hos.  viii.  I  ;  Deut.  xvii.  2),  by  infringement  of  the  hereiu,  through 
theft,  implicit  lying,  and  appropriation  of  Yahweh's  property. 


298  JOSHUA  7.  12-14.     JE 

al:^o,  and  they  have  even  put  it  among  their  own  stuff. 

12  Therefore  the  children  of  Israel  cannot  stand  before 
their  enemies,  they  turn  their  backs  before  their  enemies, 
because  they  are  become  ^  accursed  :  I  will  not  be  with 
you  any  more,  except  ye  destroy  the  devoted  thing  from 

13  among  you.  Up,  sanctify  the  people,  and  say,  Sanctify 
yourselves  against  to-morrow :  for  thus  saith  the  Lord, 
the  God  of  Israel,  There  is  a  devoted  thing  in  the  midst 
of  thee,  O  Israel :  thou  canst  not  stand  before  thine 
enemies,   until  ye  take  away  the  devoted   thing  from 

14  among  you.  In  the  morning  therefore  ye  shall  be 
brought  near  by  your  tribes  :  and  it  shall  be,  that  the 
tribe  which  the  Lord  taketh  shall  come  near  by  families ; 

*  See  ch.  vi.  18. 

12.  accursed:  ^ herem,-  a.  devoted  thing;  they  are  themselves 
under  the  ban  of  destruction  by  the  presence  of  the  herem,  work- 
ing, so  to  speak,  automatically  in  their  midst.  The  underlying 
conception  is,  therefore,  not  that  of  moral  guilt,  alone,  or  chiefly  ; 
there  is  here,  as  in  primitive  thought  generally,  a  quasi-material 
element  interwoven  with  the  moral. 

13.  sanctify :  iii.  5 ;  i.  e.  prepare  for  a  sacred  act  by  cere- 
monial cleanliness. 

14.  brought  near :  Exod.  xxii.  8,  i.e.  to  God  at  the  sanctuary, 
for  trial  by  lot. 

taketh:  i.  e.  by  lot, as  in  i  Sam.  xiv.  41  (R.  V.  marg.),  where 
Jonathan  is  detected  as  the  breaker  of  taboo.  In  this  latter  case 
the  LXX  indicates  that  the  lot  was  cast  by  Urim  and  Thummim 
(Exod.  xxviii.  30)  as,  possibly,  here  also  (see  on  Deut.  xxxiii.  8). 
The  whole  procedure  should  be  compared  with  that  employed  in 
choosing  Saul  as  king  (i  Sam.  x.  20-4),  the  larger  units  being 
dealt  with  through  their  representatives.  Cf.  note  on  xxii.  14. 
*  All  Israel  consists  of  a  number  of  tribes  {shebet,  in  P,  matteh)^ 
a  tribe  of  several  clans  {inishpachah),  a  clan  of  several  "  houses  " 
(bilh,  or  beth  db,  pi.  beth  dboth),  a  "  house  "  of  a  number  of  in- 
dividuals'  (Gray,  Numbers,  pp.  4,  5).  Ancient  faith  in  the  sacred 
casting  of  lots  (Prov.  xvi.  33)  ma}'^  be  illustrated  by  its  use  alike 
for  the  detection  of  a  Jonah  (Jonah  i.  7)  and  the  election  of  a 
Matthias  (Acts  i.  26).  The  pre-Islamic  Arabs  obtained  guidance 
in  the  choice  of  alternatives  by  the  use  of  pointless  arrows  (cf. 
Ezek.  xxi.  ai,  as)  before  an  idol  in  his  sanctuary;    one  arrow, 


JOSHUA  7.  15-2  T.     JE  299 

and  the  family  which  the  Lord  shall  take  shall  come 
near  by  households  ;  and  the  household  which  the  Lord 
shall  take  shall  come  near  man  by  man.  And  it  shall  15 
be,  that  he  that  is  taken  with  the  devoted  thing  shall  be 
burnt  with  fire,  he  and  all  that  he  hath  :  because  he  hath 
transgressed  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  because  he 
hath  wrought  folly  in  Israel. 

So  Joshua  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  brought  16 
Israel  near  by  their  tribes;  and  the  tribe  of  Judah  was 
taken  :  and  he  brought  near  the  '^family  of  Judah  ;  and  17 
he  took  the  family  of  the  Zerahites  :    and  he  brought 
near  the  family  of  the  Zerahites  ^  man  by  man  ;   and 
Zabdi  was  taken :    and  he  brought  near  his  household  iS 
man  by  man  ;  and  Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi,  the  son  of 
Zabdi,  the  son  of  Zerah,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was  taken. 
And  Joshua  said  unto  Achan,  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  19 
glory  to  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  cmake  con- 
fession unto  him  ;  and  tell  me  now  what  thou  hast  done  ; 
hide  it  not  from  me.     And  Achan  answered  Joshua,  and  20 
said,  Of  a  truth  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord,  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  thus  and  thus  have  I  done:  when  I  saw  21 
among  the  spoil  a  goodly  ^^  Babylonish  mantle,  and  two 

*  According  to  some  ancient  authorities,  families. 

^  According  to  some  ancient  authorities,  by  households. 

"  Or.  give  praise  ^  Heb.  mantle  of  Shinar. 

when  drawn,  gave  an  affirmative,  the  other  a  negative  response 
("Wellhausen,  Reste,  p.  132). 

15.  folly  in  Israel:  see  on  Deut.  xxii.  21. 

17.  R.V.  marg.  should  be  read  in  both  cases. 

19.  Achan  will  give  glory  and  praise  (R.  V.  marg.  :  cf.  Ezra 
X.  Ti)  to  Yahweh,  who  has  thus  displayed  His  knowledge  of 
hidden  things,  by  confessing  his  sin,  and  so  justifying  the  Divine 
oracle  before  the  people  (cf.  on  one  view  of  that  passage,  Ps. 
li.  4).  Cf.  John  ix.  24  (R.V.),  where  glory  is  to  be  given  to  God 
by  withdrawal  of  the  blasphemy  of  verse  17  ;   i  Sam.  vi.  5. 

21.  a  flfoodly   Babylonish  mantle:   Shinar  (R.V.  marg.)  ■= 


300  JOSHUA  7.  22-24.     JE 

hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty 
shekels  weight,  then  I  coveted  them,  and  took  them ; 
and,  behold,  they  are  hid  in  the  earth  in  the  midst  of  my 
2  2  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it.  So  Joshua  sent  messengers, 
and  they  ran  unto  the  tent ;  and,  behold,  it  was  hid  in 

23  his  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it.  And  they  took  them 
from  the  midst  of  the  tent,  and  brought  them  unto 
Joshua,  and  unto  all  the  children  of  Israel ;   and  they 

24  laid  them  down  before  the  Lord.  And  Joshua,  and  all 
Israel  with  him,  took  Achan  the  son  of  Zerah,  and  the 
silver,  and  the  mantle,  and  the  wedge  of  gold,  and  his 
sons,  and  his  daughters,  and  his  oxen,  and  his  asses,  and 

Babylon  (Gen.  x.  10)  ;  some  specially  costly  cloak  is  intended, 
the  products  of  the  Babylonian  looms  being  famous. 

two  hundred  shekels  of  silver :  the  shekel  here  is  a  weight, 
coinage  not  being  employed  anywhere  before  the  seventh  century. 
The  Hebrews,  after  the  Conquest,  must  have  adopted  the  system  of 
weights  current  in  Canaan,  i.  e.  that  of  Babylonia,  by  which  the 
gold  shekel  would  be  about  253  grains  troy,  or  a  little  more  than 
two  sovereigns  in  weight,  whilst  the  silver  shekel  would  be  about 
224  grains  troy,  or  rather  more  than  the  weight  of  an  English 
half-crown.  The  intrinsic  value  of  the  metal  (its  purchasing 
power  being,  of  course,  much  greater)  would  be  about  £2  is.  od.  for 
the  gold  shekel,  and  nearly  2s.  gd.  for  the  silver  (for  further  details, 
see  Kennedy,  D.B.,  iii.  p.  419:  cf.  E.B.,  4444). 

23.  laid  them  down :  '  poured  them  out,'  viz.  before  the 
sanctuary. 

24.  The  extension  of  the  guilt  of  the  individual  to  the  whole 
family  group  of  which  he  is  a  member  is  due  to  that  idea  of 
corporate  responsibility  which  underlies  ancient  ethics  and  law  as 
a  whole  (cf.  xxii.  18).  From  our  point  of  view,  we  may  say  with 
Mozley  (Lectures  on  the  O.  T.,  p.  87),  'The  defective  sense 
of  justice,  then,  in  those  early  ages,  arose  from  the  defective 
sense  of  individuality.'  From  the  ancient  standpoint,  the  justice 
of  the  procedure  follows  from  the  idea  of  the  blood-group  (real  or 
fictitious)  as  a  unity.  It  is  possible,  however,  in  the  present  case, 
that  one  narrative  contemplated  the  destruction  of  Achan  alone 
(cf.  Deut.  xxiv.  16),  whilst  this  has  been  brought  into  conformity 
with  the  law  of  Deut.  xiii,  16  by  the  addition  of  Achan's  goods 
and  family.  For  death  by  stoning,  see  Deut.  xvii.  5  (note)  ;  by 
fire,  Gen.  xxxviii.  24. 


JOSHUA  7.  25—8.  2.     JE  R^  301 

his  sheep,  and  his  tent,  and  all  that  he  had  :  and  they 
brought  them  up  unto  the  valley  of  Achor.  And  Joshua  25 
said,  Why  hast  thou  troubled  us  ?  the  Lord  shall  trouble 
thee  this  day.  And  all  Israel  stoned  him  with  stones ; 
and  they  burned  them  with  fire,  and  stoned  them  with 
stones.  And  they  raised  over  him  a  great  heap  of  stones,  -'6 
unto  this  day ;  and  the  Lord  turned  from  the  fierceness 
of  his  anger.  Wherefore  the  name  of  that  place  was 
called.  The  valley  of  ^  Achor,  unto  this  day. 

[R°]  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Fear  not,  neither  8 
be  thou  dismayed  :  take  all  the  people  of  war  with  thee, 
and  arise,  go  up  to  Ai :  see,  I  have  given  into  thy  hand 
the  king  of  Ai,  and  his  people,  and  his  city,  and  his  land  : 
and  thou  shalt  do  to  Ai  and  her  king  as  thou  didst  unto  2 

*  That  is,  Troubling. 

the  valley  of  Achor  :  xv.  7  :  cf.  Hos.  ii.  15  ;  Isa.  Ixv.  10 ; 
identified  by  some  with  the  Wady  el-Kelt,  leading  down  from  the 
hill-country  to  the  Jordan  Valley.  In  the  following  verse  there 
is  a  play  on  its  name  in  '  trouble '  (achar). 

26.  a  great  heap  of  stones  :  viii.  29  ;  2  Sam.  xviii.  17.  The 
original  purpose  of  this  widespread  practice  may  have  been  to 
prevent  the  ghost  of  the  dead  (conceived  as  quasi-material  from 
emerging  and  troubling  his  survivors.  Here  it  is  a  monument  of 
disgrace. 

viii.  1-29.  The  Capture  of  Ai.  Yahweh  directs  a  renewed 
attack  on  Ai  (verses  i,  2).  Joshua  places  to  the  west  of  Ai  an 
ambush  of  30,000  picked  men,  who  are  to  seize  and  burn  the  city, 
when  the  inhabitants  have  been  drawn  out  by  the  apparent  flight 
of  the  remaining  Israelites  (verses  3-9).  The  stratagem  entirely 
succeeds  (verses  10-17).  The  men  of  Ai  are  surrounded  and 
destroyed,  as  are  the  women  left  in  the  city  (verses  18-26).  The 
cattle  and  spoil,  according  to  Yahweh's  permission,  are  retained 
by  Israel ;  the  king  of  Ai  is  hanged,  and  a  cairn  erected  on  his 
body  at  the  gate  of  the  burnt  cit3'  (verses  27-9). 

There  are  several  indications  that  this  narrative  is  drawn  from 
two  independent  sources,  viz.  the  ambush  set  twice  in  the  same 
place  (cf.  verses  3-9  with  verse  12),  the  double  start  (verses  3* 
and  10),  and  the  twice-burnt  city  (verses  19  and  28). 

2.  as  thou  didst  unto  Jericho:  vi.  21  :  cf  Deut.  ii.  34  f.,  iii. 
6f.,  XX.  16. 


302  JOSHUA  8.  3-9-     R""  JE  R°  JE 

Jericho  and  her  king  :  only  the  spoil  thereof,  and  the 
cattle  thereof,  shall  ye  take  for  a  prey  unto  yourselves : 

3  set  thee  an  ambush  for  the  city  behind  it.  [JE]  So 
Joshua  arose,  and  all  the  people  of  war,  to  go  up  to  Ai : 
and  Joshua  chose  out  thirty  thousand  men,  the  mighty 

4  men  of  valour,  and  sent  them  forth  by  night.  And  he 
commanded  them,  saying.  Behold,  ye  shall  lie  in  ambush 
against  the  city,  behind  the  city :  go  not  very  far  from 

5  the  city,  but  be  ye  all  ready :  and  I,  and  all  the  people 
that  are  with  me,  will  approach  unto  the  city :  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  when  they  come  out  against  us,  as 

6  at  the  first,  that  we  will  flee  before  them ;  and  they  will 
come  out  after  us,  till  we  have  drawn  them  away  from  the 
city  ;  for  they  will  say.  They  flee  before  us,  as  at  the  first ; 

^  so  we  will  flee  before  them  :  and  ye  shall  rise  up  from 
the  ambush,  and  take  possession  of  the  city  :  for  the 

8  Lord  your  God  will  deliver  it  into  your  hand.  And  it 
shall  be,  when  ye  have  seized  upon  the  city,  that  ye  shall 
set  the  city  on  fire;  [R^^]  according  to  the  word  of 
the  Lord  shall  ye  do  :    see,  I  have  commanded  you. 

9  [JE]  And  Joshua  sent  them  forth  :  and  they  went  to  the 
ambushment,  and  abode  between  Beth-el  and  Ai,  on  the 
west  side  of  Ai :  but  Joshua  lodged  that  night  among 
the  people. 

behind  it:  i.e.  westwards  of  Ai  :  cf.  verses  4,  9;  Deut. 
xi.  30. 

3.  Between  the  two  halves  of  this  verse  we  must  suppose 
Joshua  to  have  marched  from  the  camp  at  Gilgal  (ix.  6)  into  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ai  (sixteen  miles),  where  he  detaches  the  am- 
buscade (so  Dillmann  :  cf  verse  9). 

5.  as  at  the  first:  vii.  5  f .  ;  note  the  use  made  of  the  former 
defeat  in  the  stratagem. 

0.  among-  the  people:  by  the  addition  of  a  single  Hebrew 
letter,  read  with  Ewald  and  Dillmann,  *  in  the  midst  of  the  vale  ' 
(verse  13).  Joshua  takes  in  person  the  position  for  the  feigned 
attack  on  Ai  {as  in  the  parallel,  vcvse  13). 


JOSHUA  8.  10-14.     JE  303 

And  Joshua  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  mustered  10 
the  people,  and  went  up,  he  and  the  elders  of  Israel, 
before  the  people  to  Ai.     And  all  the  people,  even  the  n 
7nen  of  war  that  were  with  him,  went  up,  and  drew  nigh, 
and  came  before  the  city,  and  pitched  on  the  north  side  of 
Ai  :  now  there  was  a  valley  between  him  and  Ai.    And  he  1 2 
took  about  five  thousand  men,  and  set  them  in  ambush 
between  Beth-el  and  Ai,  on  the  west  side  of  ^  the  city. 
i^So  they  set  the  people,  even  all  the  host  that  was  on  13 
the  north  of  the  city,  and  their  liers  in  wait  that  were  on 
the  west  of  the  city ;  and  Joshua  c  went  that  night  into 
the  midst  of  the  vale.     And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  14 
king  of  Ai  saw  it,  that  they  hasted  and  rose  up  early, 
and  the  men  of  the  city  went  out  against  Israel  to  battle, 
he  and  all  his  people,  ^  at  the  time  appointed,  before  the 
Arabah ;    but  he  wist  not  that  there   was   an   ambush 

^  Another  reading  is,  At. 

^  Or,  So  the  people  set  all  &c. 

^  Some  MSS.  read,  lodged  that  night  in. 

^  Or,  to  the  place  appointed 


10-12  must  be  regarded  as  a  narrative  parallel  with  that  of 
verses  3-9,  and  is  usually  assigned  to  E,  as  the  former  to  J 
(Dillmann,  Bennett,  Holzinger).  We  start  again  from  Gilgal,  the 
march  of  the  warriors  to  the  north  of  Ai,  and  the  detachment  of 
the  (much  smaller  and  more  likely)  ambush  to  the  west,  being 
again  narrated. 

13 :  omitted  by  LXX.  It  summarizes  and  combines  J  and  E, 
its  theory  apparently  being  that  the  first  detachment  preceded  the 
main  body  in  the  first  night,  lying  in  ambush  at  Ai,  till  joined  by 
the  second  detachment  on  the  second  night  (Holzinger).  The 
R.  V.  text  in  both  cases  is  preferable  to  the  margin  ;  '  they  '  = 
Joshua  and  the  elders  (verse  10). 

liers  iu  wait :  '  rear,'  lit.  *■  heel '  :  cf.  Gen.  xlix.  19. 

14  shows  confusion,  due  probably  to  composite  origin. 

saw  it :  i.  e.  the  position  of  the  main  body  of  Israel ;  but  the 
pronoun  is  supplied  by  R.  V. 

at  the  time  (place)  appointed,  before  the  Arabah  yields 
no  meaning  (LXX  omits). 


304  JOSHUA  8.  15-20.     JE 

15  against  him  behind  the  city.  And  Joshua  and  all  Israel 
made  as  if  they  were  beaten  before  them,  and  fled  by 

16  the  way  of  the  wilderness.  And  all  the  people  that  were 
in  ^  the  city  were  called  together  to  pursue  after  them  : 
and  they  pursued  after  Joshua,  and  were  drawn  away 

17  from  the  city.  And  there  was  not  a  man  left  in  Ai  or 
Beth-el,  that  went  not  out  after  Israel :  and  they  left  the 

I S  city  open,  and  pursued  after  Israel.  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  Joshua,  Stretch  out  the  javelin  that  is  in  thy  hand 
toward  Ai ;  for  I  will  give  it  into  thine  hand.  And 
Joshua  stretched  out  the  javelin  that  was  in  his  hand 

19  toward  the  city.  And  the  ambush  arose  quickly  out  of 
their  place,  and  they  ran  as  soon  as  he  had  stretched  out 
his  hand,  and  entered  into  the  city,  and  took  it ;  and 

20  they  hasted  and  set  the  city  on  fire.  And  when  the  men 
of  Ai  looked  behind  them,  they  saw,  and,  behold,  the 
smoke  of  the  city  ascended  up  to  heaven,  and  they  had 

'  Another  reading  is,  yii. 

15.  the  way  of  the  wilderness:  i.e.  eastwards,  into  the 
desolate  and  mountainous  country  between  Ai  and  the  Jordan 
Valley. 

17.  Beth-el:  near  to  and  west  of  Ai  (vii.  2). 
javelin :  or  dart  {kidon),  distinct  from  the  spear  or  lance 
{hdnith),  Joshua  is  represented  as  keeping  the  javelin  outstretched 
(verse  26),  just  as  Moses  (Exod.  xvii.  11,  E)  kept  his  hands  uplifted 
during  the  defeat  of  Amalek.  Forms  of  symbolic  magic  are  here 
assimilated  to  the  religion  of  Yahweh. 

19.  as  soon  as  he  had  stretched  out  his  hand:  probably 
added  by  the  redactor  of  J  and  E,  to  interpret  verse  18  as  a  signal. 
But  no  arrangement  for  such  a  signal  has  been  made  with  the 
ambush ;  in  any  case,  it  would  have  been  useless,  since  the  dis- 
tance would  make  the  javelin  invisible  (itself,  as  Holzinger  points 
out,  less  suitable  than  the  longer  '  spear'  for  signalling).  We  are 
rather  to  think  that  whilst  one  source  (E  ?)  represents  the  capture 
of  Ai  as  achieved  through  divine  'magic.'  the  other  makes  the 
rising  smoke  (verses  20,  21)  from  the  (invisible)  city  the  signal  for 
the  pursued  to  turn  on  their  pursuers  (so  at  the  capture  of  Gibeah, 
Judges  XX.  38), 


JOSHUA  8.  2  (-29.     JE  R°  JE  305 

no  ^  power  to  flee  this  way  or  that  way  :  and  the  people 
that  fled  to  the  wilderness  turned  back  upon  the  pursuers. 
And  when  Joshua  and  all  Israel  saw  that  the  ambush  had  2 1 
taken  the  city,  and  that  the  smoke  of  the  city  ascended, 
then  they  turned  again,  and  slew  the  men  of  Ai.     And  22 
the  other  came  forth  out  of  the  city  against  them ;  so 
they  were  in  the  midst  of  Israel,  some  on  ihis  side,  and 
some  on  that  side :  and  they  smote  them,  so  that  they 
let  none  of  them  remain  or  escape.     And  the  king  of  Ai  23 
they  took  alive,  and  brought  him  to  Joshua.     And  it  came  24 
to  pass,  when  Israel  had  made  an  end  of  slaying   all 
the   inhabitants  of  Ai  in   the  field,  in   the   wilderness 
wherein  they  pursued  them,  and  they  were   all   fallen 
by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  until  they  were   consumed, 
that  all  Israel  returned  unto  Ai,  and  smote  it  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword.     And  all  that  fell  that  day,  both  of  25 
men  and  women,  were  twelve  thousand,  even  all  the  men 
of  Ai.     For  Joshua  drew  not  back  his  hand,  wherewith  26 
he  stretched  out  the  javelin,  until  he  had  ^  utterly  de- 
stroyed all  the  inhabitants  of  Ai.     [R^]  Only  the  cattle  27 
and  the  spoil  of  that  city  Israel  took  for  a  prey  unto 
themselves,  according  unto  the  word  of  the  Lord  which 
he  commanded  Joshua.     [JE]  So  Joshua  burnt  Ai,  and  28 
made  it  an  ^  heap  for  ever,  even  a  desolation,  unto  this 
day.     And  the  king  of  Ai  he  hanged  on  a  tree  until  the  29 
eventide  :  and  at  the  going  down  of  the  sun  Joshua  com- 

^  Heb.  hands.         ^  Heb,  devoted.         "  Or,  tnound    Heb.  tel. 

20.  power  :  '  hand  '  is  frequently  used  in  this  figurative  sense  ; 
cf.  Deut.  xvi.  17,  xxxii.  36,  xxxiv.  12  ;  Ps.  Ixxvi.  5. 

28.  an  heap  for  ever:  Deut.  xiii.  16. 

unto  this  day:    but  Ai  was  rebuilt  in   the   neighbourhood 
(Isa.  X.  28  ;  Ezra  ii.  28). 

29.  hang^ed :  i.  e.  after  having  been  killed  fx.  26  ;  Deut.  xxi. 
22,  23) ;  the  reference  is  to  impalement  or  gibbeting  after  death 

X 


3o6  JOSHUA  8.  30-33.     JE  R° 

manded,  and  they  took  his  carcase  down  from  the  tree, 
and  cast  it  at  the  entering  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and 
raised  thereon  a  great  heap  of  stones,  unto  this  day. 

30  [R^]  Then  Joshua  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  the  God 

31  of  Israel,  in  mount  Ebal,  as  Moses  the  servant  of  the 
Lord  commanded  the  children  of  Israel,  as  it  is  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  an  altar  of  ^  unhewn 
stones,  upon  which  no  man  had  lift  up  any  iron  :  and 
they  offered  thereon  burnt  offerings  unto  the  Lord,  and 

32  sacrificed  peace  offerings.  And  he  wrote  there  upon  ^the 
stones  a  copy  of  the  law  of  Moses,  cwhich  he  wrote, 

33  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And  all  Israel, 
and  their  elders  and  officers,  and  their  judges,  stood  on 
this  side  the  ark  and  on  that  side  before  the  priests  the 

*  Heb.  whole.  ^  See  Deut.  xxvii.  2-4. 

**  Or,  which  he  wrote  in  &c. 


{E.B.,  p.  1959).  The  body  is  represented  as  being  taken  down  at 
sunset,  in  obedience  to  such  laws  as  that  of  Deuteronomy  (Joe.  at.). 
For  the  heap  of  stones,  see  on  vii.  26. 

viii,  30-35.  An  altar  is  built,  sacrifices  are  offered,  and  the  law 
is  inscribed  on  Mount  Ebal  (verses  30-2).  The  blessing  and  curse 
of  the  Deuteronomic  law  are  read  to  all  Israel  between  Ebal  and 
Gerizim  (verses  33-5). 

These  events,  supposed  to  take  place  at  Shechem,  in  the  heart 
of  territory  as  yet  unconquered,  can  hardly  belong  to  their  present 
context  (which,  moreover,  they  interrupt).  We  may  suppose  the 
section  misplaced,  and  to  be  read  after  xi.  23,  or  (with  Dilhnann) 
that  the  narrative  of  the  conquest  of  Middle  Canaan  has  been 
omitted. 

R^  probably  uses  earlier  material ;  otherwise  the  Law  of  the 
Single  Sanctuary  would  not  be  thus  set  aside  by  him. 

30.  mount  Ebal :  Deut.  xxvii.  4  ;  H.G.H.L.,  p.  120; 

31.  as  it  is  written :  Deut.  xxvii.  5  (where  see  the  notes). 

32.  upon  tlie  stones:  presumably  those  of  Deut.  xxvii.  1-4, 
with  prepared  surface,  though  the  present  passage  alone  would 
suggest  that  the  stones  of  the  altar  are  meant. 

a  copy  of  the  law:  Deut.  xvii,  18.     Read  as  in  R.  V.  marg, 

33.  This  public  assembly  for  the  reading  of  the  (Deuteronomic) 


JOSHUA  8.  34—9.  I.    R^  307 

Levites,  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord, 
as  well  the  stranger  as  the  homeborn  ;  half  of  them  in 
front  of  mount  Gerizim,  and  half  of  them  in  front  of 
mount  Ebal;  as  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  had 
'^^  commanded,  that  they  should  bless  the  people  of  Israel 
first  of  all.  And  afterward  he  read  all  the  words  of  the  34 
law,  the  blessing  and  the  curse,  according  to  all  that  is 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law.  There  was  not  a  word  35 
of  all  that  Moses  commanded,  which  Joshua  read  not 
before  all  the  assembly  of  Israel,  and  the  women,  and 
the  little  ones,  and  the  strangers  that  ^  were  conversant 
among  them. 

And    it   came    to   pass,  when   all    the   kings   which  9 

*  Or,  commanded  at  the  first,  that  they  should  bless  the  people  of 
Israel.  ^  Heb.  walked. 


law  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  procedure  commanded  in  Deut. 
xxvii.  11-26,  but  connected  rather  with  the  general  command  of 
Deut.  xxxi.  II. 

as  well  the  stranger  as  the  homeborn :  (verse  35  ;  Lev. 
xxiv.  16,  22)  the  ger  and  the  ezrdh  (see  Robertson  Smith, 
Rel.  Sem.,  p.  75).     See  on  Deut.  i.  16. 

Gerizim:  Deut,  xi.  29;  H.G.H.L.,  p,  120. 

had  commanded :  'text  preferable  to  margin)  nothing  more 
definite  than  Deut.  xi.  29  is  recorded  ;  first  of  all:  opposed  to 
afterward  (verse  34). 

34.  the  words  of  the  law :  i.  e.  those  inscribed  on  the  stones  ; 
the  reference  to  the  blessing  and  the  curse  appears  to  be  added  in 
view  of  Deut.  xxvii.  12  f. 

35.  were  conversant  amougr  them :  rather  (cf.  R.V;  marg.), 
*  travelled  in  their  midst.' 

ix.  The  Stratagem  of  the  Giheonites.  The  kings  of  Canaan 
prepare  for  common  action  against  Israel  (verses  i,  2).  The 
Gibeonites,  by  the  device  of  worn  apparel  and  stale  provisions, 
persuade  Israel  that  they  come  from  a  far  country  ;  an  alliance  is 
therefore  made  with  them  (verses  3-15).  When  their  actual 
nearness  is  discovered,  Israel  journeys  to  their  cities,  the  people 
finding  fault  with  their  leaders  because  of  the  hasty  oath  of 
alliance  (verses  16-18).  The  leaders  suggest  that  the  Gibeonites 
should  be  given  a  servile  place  in  relation  to  the  congregation  of 

X    2 


3o8  JOSHUA  9.  2-4.     R°  JE 

were  beyond  Jordan,  in  the  hill  country,  and  in  the 
lowland,  and  on  all  the  shore  of  the  great  sea  in  front  of 
Lebanon,  the  Hittite,  and  the  Amorite,  the  Canaanite, 
the  Perizzite,  the  Hivite,  and  the  Jebusite,  heard  thereof; 

2  that  they  gathered  themselves  together,   to   fight   with 
Joshua  and  with  Israel,  with  one  accord. 

3  [JE]  But  when  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  heard  what 

4  Joshua  had  done  unto  Jericho  and  to  Ai,  they  also  did 

work  wilily,  and  went  and  *made  as  if  they  had  been 

*  Another  reading,  followed  by  most  ancient  versions,  is,  took 
them  provisions.     See  ver.  12. 

Israel  (verses  19-21).  Joshua  summons  the  Gibeonites,  and 
accuses  them  of  deceit,  which  they  defend  as  necessary,  in  view 
of  the  herein  of  Yahweh  (verses  22-4).  They  place  themselves 
at  the  disposal  of  Joshua,  who  gives  them  a  servile  place  in  relation 
to  the  (future)  temple  (verses  25-7). 

Apart  from  the  additions  of  R^^,  the  composite  character  of 
the  narrative  is  evident  from  the  parallels,  verses  15^  17-21  (P), 
and  "verses  22,  23,  26  (JE),  in  which  the  'princes*  and  Joshua 
respectively  take  the  leadership.  There  are  also  signs  within  the 
JE   sections   of  a  double    narrative   (cf.   *  Hivites,'  verse   7,    for 

*  inhabitants  of  Gibeon,'  verse  3 ;  and  note  the  action  of  the 
Israelites  apart  from  Joshua,  verse  14). 

ix.  1-2.  Cf.  the  similar  introductory  note  of  R^  in  v.  i,  describ- 
ing the  first  effect  of  the  invasion,  as  this  does  the  resultant 
alliance  against  Israel, 

1.  Three     districts    are     mentioned,     viz,    the    lowland,    or 

*  Shephelah,'  properly  the  region  of  low  hills,  south  of  Ajalon, 
between  the  plain  of  Philistia  (here  the  shore  of  the  gfreat  sea, 
i.  4,  i.  e.  the  Mediterranean  coast)  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
central  range  (the  hill  country)  on  the  other  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  203). 

in  front  of  ZaObanon :  should  be  connected  with  *  sea,'  as 
the  absence  of  a  comma  in  R.  V.  indicates, 

the  Hittite,  &c,  :  xii,  8  ;  for  the  list  of  six  nations  (seven  in 
iii.  10),  see  on  Deut.  vii.  i. 

3.  Gibeon :  identified  with  el-jib,  five  or  six  miles  north-west 
of  Jerusalem  ;  here  the  chief  of  a  league  of  four  cities  (verse  17), 
itself  greater  than  Ai  (x.  2). 

4.  they  also  did  work  wilily :  i.e.  as  well  as  Israel,  in  the 
stratagem  against  Ai.  Read  with  R.  V.  marg.  ;  the  difference 
simply  involves  the  change  of  a  Hebrew  consonant  to  another  like 
it  in  form. 


JOSHUA  9.  5-1 1.     JER^JE  309 

ambassadors,  and  took  old  sacks  upon  their  asses,  and 
wine-skins,  old  and  rent  and  bound  up ;  and  old  shoes  5 
and  clouted  upon  their  feet,  and  old  garments   upon 
them  ;  and  all  the  bread  of  their  provision  was  dry  and 
was  become  mouldy.     And  they  went  to  Joshua  unto  6 
the  camp  at  Gilgal,  and  said  unto  him,  and  to  the  men 
of    Israel,    We   are   come   from   a    far    country :     now 
therefore  make  ye  a  covenant  with  us.     And  the  men  of  7 
Israel   said   unto  the   Hivites,   Peradventure   ye  dwell 
among  us  ;  and  how  shall  we  make  a  covenant  with  you  ? 
And  they  said  unto  Joshua,  We  are  thy  servants.     And  8 
Joshua  said  unto  them.  Who  are  ye  ?  and  from  whence 
come  ye  ?   And  they  said  unto  him,  From  a  very  far  9 
country  thy  servants  are  come  [R°]  because  of  the  name 
of  the  Lord  thy  God :  for  we  have  heard  the  fame  of 
him  J   and  all  that  he  did  in   Egypt,  and   all   that   he  10 
did  to  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites,  that  were  beyond 
Jordan,    to  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon,  and  to  Og  king 
of  Bashan,    which   was   at  Ashtaroth.     [JE]  And   our  u 
elders  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  our  country  spake  to 

bound  up :  i.  e.  mended  by  tying  or  sewing.     Such  skins,  as 
is  well  known,  are  still  used  in  the  East. 

5.  was  become  mouldy  :  rather  (so  in  verse  12),  'crumbled,' 

6.  G-ilgal :  iv.  19,  the  Israelite  base  of  operations  (cf.  x.  15,  43). 

7.  Hivites :  xi.  19 ;  Gen.  xxxiv.  2 ;  2  Sam.  xxiv.  7.  The 
name  denotes  an  unimportant  people  of  Central  Palestine,  included 
in  the  herem  of  Deut.  vii.  2  ;  its  appearance  here  for  '  Gibeonites,' 
without  explanation,  points  to  the  use  of  a  different  source,  and 
this  is  confirmed  by  the  prominence  of  the  *  men  of  Israel '  without 
Joshua. 

8.  We  are  thy  servants :  here  the  Gibeonites  are  represented 
as  offering  subjection,  rather  than  as  seeking  a  treaty  by  craft  ; 
Joshua  questions  them  regardless  of  verse  6. 

9'',  10.  Cf.  ii.  10  ;  Deut.  i.  21,  30,  ii.  25,  &c.,  for  the  ascription 
to  K^. 

11.  No  king  of  Gibeon  is  mentioned  ;  tlie  government,  like  that 
of  Succoth   Judges  viii.  14),  appears  to  have  been  in  the  hands  of 


3IO  JOSHUA  9.  12-17.     JE  P  JE  P 

us,  saying,  Take  provision  in  your  hand  for  the  journey, 
and  go  to  meet  them,  and  say  unto  them,  We  are  your 

12  servants  :  and  now  make  ye  a  covenant  with  us.  This 
our  bread  we  took  hot  for  our  provision  out  of  our 
houses  on  the  day  we  came  forth  to  go  unto  you ;  but  now, 

1 3  behold,  it  is  dry,  and  is  become  mouldy :  and  these 
wine- skins,  which  we  filled,  were  new ;  and,  behold,  they 
be  rent :   and  these  our  garments  and  our   shoes   are 

14  become  old  by  reason  of  the  very  long  journey.  And 
the  men  took  of  their  provision,  and  asked  not  counsel  at 

15  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  And  Joshua  made  peace  with 
them^  and  made  a  covenant  with  them,  to  let  them  live  : 
[P]   and  the  princes  of  the  congregation   sware   unto 

16  them.  [JE]  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  three 
days  after  they  had  made  a  covenant  with  them,  that 
they  heard  that  they  were  their  neighbours,  and  that 

17  they  dwelt  among  them.  [P]  And  the  children  of 
Israel  journeyed,  and  came  unto  their  cities  on  the  third 
day.     Now  their  cities  were   Gibeon,   and   Chephirah, 


a  council  of  elders.     After  the  word  *  servants '  the  source  broken 
off  at  verse  7  is  resumed. 

14.  The  men  (of  Israel)  take  and  taste  their  food  to  test  their 
words.  Haupt  (S.B.O.T.,  adloc.)  contrasts  the  fresh  fig  produced 
by  Cato  in  the  Senate  to  illustrate  the  proximity  of  Carthage 
(Plin.  XV.  20). 

asked  not  counsel :  Hebrew  ^  asked  not  the  mouth  of 
Yahweh '  (Isa.  xxx.  a),  some  form  of  the  sacred  lot  being  in- 
tended. 

15.  The  three  sources  seem  each  to  have  contributed  something 
to  this  verse,  whose  triplet  affords  a  good  example  of  the  problems 
of  literary  analysis.  Joshua  makes  peace  with  the  Gibeonites 
(E  ?  cf.  verse  8)  ;  a  covenant  is  made  with  them,  doubtless  by  the 
men  of  Israel  in  the  original  narrative  (J  ?  cf.  verse  7)  ;  the 
princes  of  the  congregation  swear  to  them  (P,  whose  narrative  is 
continued  in  verses  17-21). 

17.  on  the  third  day  :  the  direct  distance,  as  measured  on  the 
map,  from  Gilgal  to  Gibeon,  is  about  nineteen  miles  ;  the  journey 


JOSHUA  9.  18-23.     P  JE  311 

and  Beeroth,  and  Kiriath-jearim.     And  the  children  of  18 
Israel   smote   them   not,    because   the    princes    of    the 
congregation  had  sworn  unto  them  by  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  Israel.     And   all   the   congregation   murmured 
against  the  princes.     But  all  the  princes  said  unto  all  19 
the   congregation,   We   have  sworn  unto  them  by  the 
Lord,   the  God  of  Israel :   now  therefore  we  may  not 
touch  them.     This  we  will  do  to  them,  and  let  them  20 
live ;  lest  wrath  be  upon  us,  because  of  the  oath  which 
we  sware  unto  them.     And  the  princes  said  unto  them,  21 
Let  them  live :   so  they  became  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers   of   water   unto  all   the   congregation ;    as   the 
princes  had  spoken  unto  them.    [  JE]  And  Joshua  called  2  2 
for  them,  and  he  spake  unto  them,  saying,  Wherefore 
have  ye  beguiled  us,  saying,  We  are  very  far  from  you ; 
when  ye  dwell  among  us?     Now  therefore  ye  are  cursed,  23 


by  road  would,  of  course,  be  greater.  As  for  the  three  other 
cities  of  the  Gibeonite  league,  Chephirah  and  Kiriath-jearim  lay  a 
little  to  the  south-west  of  Gibeon  :  Beeroth  may  be  el-Bire  to  the 
north  of  Gibeon,  near  Bethel. 

18.  murmured :  Exod.  xvi.  2  ;  Num.  xiv.  2,  xvii.  5. 

20.  The  binding  power  of  the  spoken  word  was  generally 
acknowledged  by  the  ancient  world  ;  it  is  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  moral  aspect  of  such  promises.  Here,  indeed,  a  modern  would 
regard  the  pledge  as  cancelled  by  the  deception  employed  to 
obtain  it ;  whilst,  if  it  were  recognized  as  binding,  he  would 
hardly  feel  free  to  evade  it  as  in  verse  21.  The  account  of  the 
deception,  however,  does  not  belong  to  this  source  (P). 

wrath :    Num.    i.  53,    xvi.    46,    xviii.   5 :    cf.   2    Sam.  vi.  7, 
xxi.  I  f.,  &c. 

21.  Something  seems  to  be  wanting  at  the  end  of  verse  20; 
LXX  finds  this  in  verse  21,  omitting  'and  the  princes  said  unto 
them,'  and  reading  '  they  shall  live,  and  shall  be  wood-cutters  and 
water-carriers  for  all  the  congregation.'  The  important  uncial  F 
also  reads  *  and  all  the  congregation  did '  before  the  concluding 
words  '  as  the  princes  said  unto  them.'  This  service  to  the 
people  (to  individual  Israelites  ?  cf.  Driver  on  Deut.  xxix.  10)  is  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  temple-service  intended  in  verses  23,  27. 


312  JOSHUA  9.  24—10.  I.     JE  R^  JE  R^  JE 

and  there  ^  shall  never  fail  to  be  of  you  bondmen,  both 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  house  of 
-'4  my  God.  [R^]  And  they  answered  Joshua,  and  said. 
Because  it  was  certainly  told  thy  servants,  how  that  the 
Lord  thy  God  commanded  his  servant  Moses  to  give 
you  all  the  land,  and  to  destroy  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
land  from  before  you ;  therefore  we  were  sore  afraid  for 
our  lives   because   of  you,   and  have  done  this  thing. 

25  And  now,  behold,  we  are  in  thine  hand :  as  it  seemeth 

26  good  and  right  unto  thee  to  do  unto  us,  do.  [JE]  And 
so  did  he  unto  them,  and  delivered  them  out  of  the 
hand  of  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  slew  them  not. 

27  And  Joshua  made  them  that  day  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water  for  the  congregation,  and  for  the  altar 
of  the  Lord,  unto  this  day,  [R°]  in  the  place  which  he 
should  choose. 

10      [JE]  Now  it  came  to  pass,  when  Adoni-zedek  king  of 
°^  Heb.  shall  not  be  cut  off  from  you. 


23.  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water:  Deut.  xxix.  11  ; 
for  the  form  of  the  curse,  2  Sam.  iii.  29.  The  phrase  is  meant  to 
express  servile  work  in  general  ;  Hebrew,  '  gatherers  of  wood.' 

the   house   of   my   God:    vi.   24  (the   future   temple)  :    cf. 
verse  27  ^ 

24.  Deut.  vii.  if.,  xx.  10-18. 

27.  for  the  congfreiration :  added  by  R^  to  harmonize  with 
verse  21 ;  in  the  place  which  he  should  choose  :  Deut.  xii.  5,  &c. ; 
here  evidently  added  by  R'^.  Saul,  in  patriotic  zeal,  tried  to 
exterminate  the  Gibeonites  (2  Sam.  xxi.  2).  On  the  evidence  of 
Neh.  iii.  7,  vii.  25,  it  has  been  concluded  that  they  were  subse- 
quently incorporated  in  Israel.  Others  have  traced  the  Gibeon- 
ites in  the  temple-slaves  known  as  *  Nethinim' ;  Ezra  ii.  58,  viii.  20  ; 
Neh.  vii.  60 ;  i  Chron.  ix.  2. 

x.  The  Southern  Campaign.  Five  kings  of  South  Canaan 
invest  Gibeon  because  of  its  defection  to  Israel  (verses  1-5). 
Joshua,  in  response  to  the  appeal  of  Gibeon,  makes  a  sudden 
attack,  after  a  night  advance,  and  overthrows  the  besiegers,  their 
rout  being  completed  by  a  hail-storm  (verses  6- 11).     A  fragment 


JOSHUA  10.  2.     JER^JE  313 

Jerusalem  heard  how  Joshua  had  taken  Ai,  and  had 
«  utterly  destroyed  it;  [R°]  as  he  had  done  to  Jericho 
and  her  king,  so  he  had  done  to  Ai  and  her  king; 
[JE]  and  how  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  had  made 
peace  with  Israel,  and  were  among  them ;  that  they  2 
feared  greatl)',  because  Gibeon  was  a  great  cit\',  as  one 

*  Heb.  devoted. 


of  poetry  relating  to  this  defeat  is  quoted,  and  ascribed  to  Joshua, 
which  is  interpreted  as  narrating  a  miracle  of  help  to  Israel  (verses 
12-14).  Joshua  and  the  Israelites  return  to  Gilgal  (verse  15). 
The  hiding-place  of  the  five  kings  at  Makkedah  is  v^-atched,  till 
the  return  of  the  Israelites  from  the  pursuit  (verses  16-21).  Joshua 
brings  the  five  out  from  the  cave,  and  uses  them  to  confirm  Israel's 
confidence  in  Divine  aid,  before  they  are  killed,  hanged,  and 
buried  in  the  cave  (verses  22-7).  There  follows  a  formal  statement 
of  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Makkedah,  Libnah,  Lachish 
(aided  byGezerites),  Eglon,  Hebron,  andDebir  (verses  29-39).  This 
single  campaign  is  alleged  to  have  subjugated  the  whole  of  South 
Canaan,  and  to  have  included  the  destruction  of  every  breathing 
thing  (verses  40-3). 

The  subject-matter  (apart  from  the  editorial  work  of  R^,  and  the 
fragment  of  ancient  poetry,  verses  12^-13*)  falls  into  three  divisions : 
{a)  the  narrative  of  the  battle  of  Gibeon  (verses  1-15),  {b)  the 
slaughter  of  the  kings  at  Makkedah  (verses  15-27),  (c)  the  catalogue 
of  victories.  Of  these,  the  last  is  clearly  by  R^,  whilst  (a)  and 
(6)  are  variously  assigned,  within  the  general  limits  of  JE. 

1.  Adoixi-zedek :  i.e.  'The  Lord  is  Zedek '  (Gray,  Hebrew 
Proper  Names,  p.  141),  Zedek  being  the  name  of  a  Phoenician 
deity.  An  inscription  with  the  name  Zedekjatan  (Zedek  has 
given)  was  found  on  the  site  of  a  Phoenician  temple  in  1903,  and 
a  Phoenician  king  bears  the  name  Zedek-melek  (Bloch,  Phoeit. 
Gloss.,  p.  55).  Note  also  the  name  Melchizedek  (The  king  is 
Zedek),  and  cf.  Adonijah  (The  Lord  is  Jah).  Adoni-zedek 
appears  in  Judges  i.  5  f.  as  Adoni-bezek  (so  LXX  here),  but  the 
latter  form  is  less  likely  (cf.  Hloore,  Judges,  p.  16). 

Jerusalem :  xv.  63  (note)  ;  called  Uru-salim  in  the  Tell  el- 
Amarna  Letters  of  c.  1400  b.  c,  seven  of  which  are  from  its  ruler 
Abdchiba  (Introd.,  III.  3).  It  there  appears  as  '  the  fortified 
capital  of  a  small  territory  under  hereditary  princes  '  {E.B.,  2415). 
Haupt  explains  the  name  as  '  City  of  Safety  '  {S.B.O.  T.,  p.  70). 
as  he  had  done,  &c.  :  cf.  viii.  2  for  this  interpolation  of  R^. 


314  JOSHUA  10.  3-8.     JE  R^ 

of  the  royal  cities,  and  because  it  was  greater  than  Ai, 

3  and  all  the  men  thereof  were  mighty.  Wherefore  Adoni- 
zedek  king  of  Jerusalem  sent  unto  Hoham  king  of 
Hebron,  and  unto  Piram  king  of  Jarmuth,  and  unto 
Japhia  king  of  Lachish,  and  unto  Debir  king  of  Eglon, 

4  saying,  Come  up  unto  me,  and  help  me,  and  let  us  smite 
Gibeon:  for  it  hath  made  peace  with  Joshua  and  with 

5  the  children  of  Israel.  Therefore  the  five  kings  of  the 
Amorites,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Hebron, 
the  king  of  Jarmuth,  the  king  of  Lachish,  the  king  of 
Eglon,  gathered  themselves  together,  and  went  up,  they 
and  all  their  hosts,  and  encamped  against  Gibeon,  and 

6  made  war  against  it.  And  the  men  of  Gibeon  sent  unto 
Joshua  to  the  camp  to  Gilgal,  saying,  Slack  not  thy  hand 
from  thy  servants ;  come  up  to  us  quickly,  and  save  us, 
and  help  us  :  for  all  the  kings  of  the  Amorites  that  dwell 
in   the   hill   country   are  gathered  together  against  us. 

7  So  Joshua  went  up  from  Gilgal,  he,  and  all  the  people  of 
war   with   him,   and   all    the    mighty    men    of    valour. 

8  [R^]  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Fear  them  not : 
for  I  have  delivered  them  into  thine  hands ;  there  shall 


2.  as  one  of  the  royal  cities :  though  itself  possessing  no  king 
(note  on  ix.  ii). 

3.  Hebron :  the  ancient  and  important  city,  near  the  modern 
El-Khalil,  nineteen  miles  south  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  road  to 
Beersheba. 

Jarmuth:  (Khirbet  el  Yarmuk)  sixteen  miles  west  of 
Jerusalem,  near  Bet-Nettif. 

Lachish:  (Tell  el-Hesy)  between  Eleutheropolis  and  Gaza. 

Egrlon :  (Kh.  'Ajlan)  two  miles  north  of  Lachish,  and  twenty- 
three  miles  west  of  Hebron. 

5.  Amorites :  Deut.  i.  7  (note).  The  three  last-named  cities 
lie  in  the  Shephelah  rather  than  in  the  <  hill-country '  (verse  6). 

6.  Slack  not  thy  hand  :  lit. '  let  drop  '  (2  Sam.  xxiv.  16),  here, 
with  '  from  '  =  *  abandon.' 

8.  Cf.  viii.  I  ;  Deut.  iii.  2,  vii.  24,  &c.,  for  ascription  to  R^. 


JOSHUA  10.  9-12.     RDJER^  315 

not  a  man  of  them  stand  before  thee.     [JE]  Joshua  9 
therefore  came  upon  them  suddenly ;  for  he  went  up 
from  Gilgal  all  the  night.     And  the  Lord  discomfited  10 
them   before   Israel,   and   he   slew  them  with  a  great 
slaughter  at  Gibeon,  and  chased  them  by  the  way  of  the 
ascent  of  Beth-horon,  and  smote  them  to  Azekah,  and 
unto   Makkedah.     And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they   fled  n 
from  before  Israel,  while  they  were  in  the  going  down  of 
Beth-horon,  that  the  Lord  cast  down  great  stones  from 
heaven  upon  them  unto  Azekah,  and  they  died:   they 
were  more  which  died  with  the  hailstones  than   they 
whom  the  children  of  Israel  slew  with  the  sword. 

[R°]   Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord  in  the  day  12 

9.  he  weiii;  up  :  more  than  twenty  miles  by  a  climbing  road. 

10.  discomfited :  Exod.  xiv.  24  ;  Judges  iv.  15  ;  i  Sam.  vii.  10  ; 
better  '  threw  into  panic."  Note,  as  characteristic,  how  the 
action  of  Israel  is  identified  with  that  of  Yahweh.  So,  on  the 
Moabite  Stone  (1.  19),  Mesha  describes  his  victory  over  the  king  of 
Israel  by  saying,  *  Kemosh  drove  him  out  before  me.' 

Beth-horon :  i.  e.  the  Upper,  or  more  eastern  Beth-horon, 
five  miles  north-west  of  Gibeon,  to  which  an  '  ascent '  of  nearly 
two  miles  leads  from  the  Lower  Beth-horon  lying  to  the  north- 
west. 

Azekah:  xv.  35  ;  in  the  Shephelah,  and  near  Socoh  (i  Sam. 
xvii.  1)  ;  in  or  near  the  Vale  of  Elah,  though  the  exact  site  has  not 
been  identified  (Zakariyal). 

Makkedah :  xii,  16,  xv.  41  ;  identified  by  Warren  with 
el-Mughar,  south-west  of  Ekron,  and  twenty-five  miles  from 
Gibeon  {D.B.,  iii.  p.  218),  though  this  is  considered  doubtful  by 
others  (H.G.H.L.^  p.  211). 

11.  the  goingf  down  of  Beth-horon:  (i.e.  the  'ascent'  of 
verse  10  :  cf.  i  Mace.  iii.  16,  24)  probably  extending  to  the  whole 
road  down  from  the  plateau  to  the  maritime  plain.  On  the 
topography  of  this  battle,  see  G.  A.  Smith  (H.G.H.L.,  p.  209  f.). 

grreat  stones :  cf.  Ecclus.  xlvi.  6.  For  the  conception  of 
hailstones  as  Divine  weapons,  see  Ecclus.  xliii.  15  ;  Exod.  ix.  19, 
25  ;  Job  xxxviii.  22;  Hag.  ii.  17;  Rev.  viii.  7  (see  E.B.,  1937). 
Statistics  of  some  remarkable  hailstones  are  collected  in  D.B.,  ii. 
282,  where,  also,  are  cited  some  historical  cases  of  the  discom- 
fiture of  armies  by  hail. 

12  f.  An  early  fragment  of  poetry  dramatically  describes  the 


3i6  JOSHUA  10.  13,  M.     R°JER° 

when  the  Lord  delivered  up  the  Amorites  before  the 
children  of  Israel;  [JE]  and  he  said  in  the  sight  of 
Israel,      » 

Sun,  a  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon ; 
And  thou,  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Aijalon. 
'3  And  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  stayed. 

Until  the  nation  had  avenged  themselves  of  their 
enemies. 
Is  not  this  written  in  the  book  of  ^  Jashar  ?  And  the  sun 
stayed  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted  not  to  go 
14  down  about  a  whole  day.  And  there  was  no  day  like 
that  before  it  or  after  it,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto 
the  voice  of  a  man  :  [R°]  for  the  Lord  fought  for  Israel. 

*  Heb.  be  silent.  •*  Or,  The  Upright    See  2  Sam.  i.  18. 


warrior's  desire  for  time  enough  to  achieve  victory,  with  its  fulfil- 
ment at  Gibeon.  As  Bennett  remarks,  'It  means  simply,  "May 
God  grant  us  victory  before  the  sun  sets''  .  .  .  there  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  narrative  originally  stated  that  a  miracle 
happened.'  The  poetry,  however,  was  prosaically  interpreted 
by  those  who  have  handed  it  down  to  us,  i.  e.  in  the  first  place  by 
J  {Oxf.  Hex.,  Bennett)  or  E  (Holzinger,  Driver),  and  further 
by  R°,  in  quoting  it  from  JE.  Thus,  the  prose  introduction 
(verse  12*)  interprets  it  as  the  prayer  for  a  miracle  ;  the  prose 
.conclusion  (verses  13^,  14)  asserts  that  the  miracle  took  place. 
From  such  categorical  statements  the  song  of  the  poet  is  clearly 
distinguished  (cf.  Judges  v.  20).  '  With  a  touch  of  primitive 
feeling,  Syrian  peasants  still  cry  in  song  to  the  sun  to  hasten  his 
going  down,  that  they  may  rest'  (Cheyne,  E.B.,  2333). 

12.  Aijalon  :  the  town  itself  (now  Yalo)  being  on  the  south  side 

of  the  valley,  about  fourteen  miles  from  Jerusalem. 

/     13.  the  book  of  Jashar  :  a  written  collection  of  ancient  songs, 

(once  handed  down  orally.     The  name  *  Jashar'  means  'upright' 

■  (either  of  Israel,  or  of  its  brave  men) :  cf.  the  Arabic  name  '  Hamasa' 

(valour)  for  a  similar  collection.     One  other  quotation   is  made 

from  this  source  by  the  O.  T.,  viz.  David's  Lament  over  Saul  and 

Jonathan  (2  Sam.  i.  18),  so  that  the  compilation  of  the  songs  must 

be  later  than  the  time  of  David.    It  is  possible  that  i  Kings  viii.  12, 

13  is  drawn  from  this  collection  (LXX  :  cf,  D.B.,  ii.  551  ;  E.B.y 

2334;    Rob.  Smith,  O.T.J.C.\  4355    Ryle's  Canon,  p.  ai  note). 


JOSHUA  10.  15-21.     JE  317 

[JEj  And  Joshua  returned,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  15 
unto  the  camp  to  (iilgal. 

And  these  five  kings  fled,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  16 
cave  at  Makkedah.     And  it  was  told  Joshua,  saying.  The  17 
five  kings  are  found,  hidden  in  the  cave  at  Makkedah. 
And  Joshua  said,  Roll  great  stones  unto  the  mouth  of  18 
the  cave,  and  set  men  by  it  for  to  keep  them  :  but  stay  19 
not  ye ;  pursue  after  your  enemies,  and  smite  the  hind- 
most of  them  ;  suffer  them  not  to  enter  into  their  cities  : 
for  the  Lord  your  God  hath  delivered  them  into  your  hand. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  and  the  children  of  20 
Israel  had  made  an  end  of  slaying  them  with  a  very  great 
slaughter,  till  they  were  consumed,  and  the  remnant  which 
remained  of  them  had  entered  into  the  fenced  cities,  that  21 
all    the    people    returned    to    the   camp   to   Joshua   at 
Makkedah  in  peace :    none  ^  moved  his  tongue  against 
"^  Heb.  whetted. 

A  similar  collection  called  '  The  Book  of  the  Battles  of  Yahweh ' 
supplies  the  fragment  of  poetry  quoted  in  Num   xxi.  14,  15. 

15.  The  verse  is  identical  with  verse  43,  and  is  omitted  by 
LXX  ;  it  is  out  of  place  (cf.  v.  21)  in  its  present  position,  and 
suggests  that  a  new  source  is  used,  v.  16  f.,  to  describe  a  particular 
incident  of  the  battle. 

16.  in  the  cax'e :  a  principal  ground  for  the  identification  of 
Makkedah  (verse  to)  with  the  present  village  of  el-Mughar  (*  the 
caves ')  ;  'at  this  site  alone,  of  all  the  possible  sites  for  Makkedah 
in  the  Philistine  plain,  do  caves  still  exist  .  .  .  cut  out  of  the  sand- 
stone '  (Warren,  D.B.,  iii.  218). 

20.  fenced  cities :  Heb.  'cities  of  fortification.'  The  earliest 
defensive  walls  of  the  Canaanites  seem  to  have  been  made  simply 
of  unhewn  blocks  of  stone,  but  Babylonian  influence  must  have 
led  to  more  developed  means  of  defence.  'The  Lachish  of  this 
period  had  crude  brick  walls  nine  or  ten  feet  in  thickness  .  .  . 
Fortresses  such  as  Lachish  the  nomadic  Hebrews  could  hardly 
take  by  storm,  not  possessing  the  arms  and  engines  of  war 
requisite  for  the  purpose'  {E.B.,  1553). 

21.  moved  his  tongtie  :  Heb.  'sharpened'  (Exod.  xi.  7:  cf. 
Isa.  X.  14);  a  proverbial  way  of  describing  the  return  from  the 
pursuit  '  in  peace  '. 


3x8  JOSHUA  10.  22-27-     JER'^JE 

22  any  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Then  said  Joshua,  Open 
the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  bring  forth  those  five  kings  unto 

23  me  out  of  the  cave.  And  they  did  so,  and  brought  forth 
those  five  kings  unto  him  out  of  the  cave,  the  king  of 
Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Hebron,  the  king  of  Jarmuth,  the 

2 }  king  of  Lachish,  the  king  of  Eglon.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  when  they  brought  forth  those  kings  unto  Joshua, 
that  Joshua  called  for  all  the  men  of  Israel,  and  said  unto 
the  chiefs  of  the  men  of  war  which  went  with  him.  Come 
near,  put  your  feet  upon  the  necks  of  these  kings.  And 
they  came  near,  and  put  their  feet  upon  the  necks  of 

25  them.  [R^]  And  Joshua  said  unto  them,  Fear  not,  nor 
be  dismayed ;  be  strong  and  of  good  courage :  for  thus 
shall  the  Lord  do  to  all  your  enemies  against  whom  ye 

26  fight.  [JE]  And  afterward  Joshua  smote  them,  and  put 
them  to  death,  and  hanged  them  on  five  trees :  and  they 

27  were  hanging  upon  the  trees  until  the  evening.  And  it 
came  to  pass  at  the  time  of  the  going  down  of  the  sun, 
that  Joshua  commanded,  and  they  took  them  down  ofif 
the  trees,  and  cast  them  into  the  cave  wherein  they  had 
hidden  themselves,  and  laid  great  stones  on  the  mouth 
of  the  cave,  unto  this  very  day. 


24.  chiefs:  Heb.  kdzin,  etymologically  connected  with  the 
Arabic  Kadi,  or  '  decider ' ;  used,  as  here,  of  a  military  com- 
mander :  Judges  xi.  6,  11  ;  Dan.  xi.  18  :  of  a  civil  dictator,  Isa.  iii. 
6,  7  :  and  of  a  ruler  in  general,  Isa.  i.  10,  &c. 

upon  the  necks  :  Ps.  ex.  i  ;  Isa.  li.  23  :  such  customs,  for 
primitive  thought,  are  not  simply  what  they  would  be  for  us, 
expressive  or  symbolic  actions  ;  they  belong  to  the  great  realm  of 
symbolic  magic ;  they  confirm  and  help  to  repeat  the  victory  won. 
Assyrian  sculptures  illustrate  the  practice.     See  Introd.,  p.  266. 

26.  See  the  note  on  viii.  29. 

27.  unto  this  very  day :  i.  e.  some  cave,  with  rocks  lying 
across  its  mouth,  was  pointed  out  in  the  writer's  time  as  the  place 
where  the  bones  of  these  kings  lay. 


JOSHUA  10.  28-33.     R°  319 

[R°]  And  Joshua  took  Makkedah  on  that  day,  and  28 
smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  the  king  thereof; 
he  ^  utterly  destroyed  them  and  all  the  souls  that  were 
therein,  he  left  none  remaining  :  and  he  did  to  the  king 
of  Makkedah  as  he  had  done  unto  the  king  of  Jericho. 

And  Joshua  passed  from  Makkedah,  and  all  Israel  with  29 
him,  unto  Libnah,  and  fought  against  Libnah  :  and  the  30 
Lord  delivered  it  also,  and  the  king  thereof,  into  the  hand 
of  Israel;  and  he  smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and 
all  the  souls  that  were  therein  ;  he  left  none  remaining  in 
it ;  and  he  did  unto  the  king  thereof  as  he  had  done  unto 
the  king  of  Jericho. 

And  Joshua  passed  from  Libnah,  and  all  Israel  with  31 
him,  unto  Lachish,  and  encamped  against  it,  and  fought 
against  it :  and  the  Lord  delivered  Lachish  into  the  32 
hand  of  Israel,  and  he  took  it  on  the  second  day,  and 
smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  all  the  souls 
that  were  therein,  according  to  all  that  he  had  done  to 
Libnah. 

Then  Horam  king  of  Gezer  came  up  to  help  Lachish  ;  33 
and  Joshua  smote  him  and  his  people,  until  he  had  left 
him  none  remaining. 

*  Heb.  devoted. 

X.  28-39.  The  principal  items  in  this  southern  campaign  are 
noted  according  to  a  regular  formula.  The  emphasis  falls,  in 
each  case,  on  the  completeness  of  the  *  devotion  '  (hereni). 

28.  them  :  read  *  it,'  as  in  verse  37  (MSS.,  Targ.,  LXXof  Luc). 
as  he  had  done  unto  the  king*  of  Jericho :  not  stated  in 

chap,  vi  ;  probably  the  hanging  of  viii.  29  is  meant  (cf.  x.  i). 

29.  Iiibnah:  in  the  Shephelah  (xv.  42),  site  unknown,  but 
between  Makkedah  and  Lachish. 

33.  Oezer:  Tell  Jezer,  six  miles  south  of  Lydda  (cf, 
H.G.H.L.y  p.  216).  It  is  named  in  the  Tell  el-Amarna  Letters  as 
captured  by  invaders  ;  also  in  an  inscription  of  Merneptah  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Israel  did  not  take  it  (xvi.  10:  cf.  Judges 
i    29). 


320  JOSHUA  10.  34-40.     R° 

34  And  Joshua  passed  from  Lachish,and  all  Israel  with  him, 
unto  Eglon ;   and  they  encamped  against  it,  and  fought 

35  against  it ;  and  they  took  it  on  that  day,  and  smote  it 
with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  all  the  souls  that  were 
therein  he  «-  utterly  destroyed  that  day,  according  to  all 
that  he  had  done  to  Lachish. 

36  And  Joshua  went  up  from  Eglon,  and  all  Israel  with- 

37  him,  unto  Hebron ;  and  they  fought  against  it :  and  they 
took  it,  and  smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  the 
king  thereof,  and  all  the  cities  thereof,  and  all  the  souls 
that  were  therein  ;  he  left  none  remaining,  according  to  all 
that  he  had  done  to  Eglon ;  but  he  ^  utterly  destroyed  it, 
and  all  the  souls  that  were  therein. 

38  And   Joshua  returned,   and  all   Israel  with   him,   to 

39  Debir ;  and  fought  against  it :  and  he  took  it,  and  the 
king  thereof,  and  all  the  cities  thereof;  and  they  smote 
them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  ^  utterly  destroyed 
all  the  souls  that  were  therein  ;  he  left  none  remaining  : 
as  he  had  done  to  Hebron,  so  he  did  to  Debir,  and  to 
the  king  thereof;  as  he  had  done  also  to  Libnah,  and  to 
the  king  thereof. 

^o      So  Joshua  smote  all  the  land,  the  hill  country,  and  the 
South,  and  the  lowland,  and  the  slopes,  and  all  their 
*  Heb.  devoted. 

3*7.  the  king-  thereof:  alreadj'  killed  and  hanged,  according  to 
V.  26;  the  inconsistency  is  due  to  the  diflferent  source  (R°)  of  the 
present  statement,  which  is  omitted  by  LXX  in  consequence. 
Contrast,  also,  xiv.  13,  xv.  13  ;  Judges  i.  10, 

38.  Debir:  called  KiriathSepher  in  xv.  15,  Judges  i.  11; 
identified  by  some  with  ed-Daharlyeh,  eleven  miles  south  west  of 
Hebron  (H.G.H.L.,  s'jg ;  but  see  p.  670,  and  E.B.,  ii.  2681; 
Moore,  Judges,  p.  25). 

X.  40-43.  General  sunimarv  of  the  southern  campaign  (cf.  Judges 
i.  9). 

40.  the  South :  see  on  Deut.  i.  7. 

the  slopes:  or  'cliffs'  ^.Gray,  Numbers,  p.  286)  xii.  3,  xiii. 


JOSHUA  10.  41—11.  I.     R°  JE  321 

kings ;  he  left  none  remaining  :  but  he  »  utterly  destroyed 
all  that  breathed,  as  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  com- 
manded.    And  Joshua  smote  them  from  Kadesh-barnea  41 
even  unto  Gaza,  and  all  the  country  of  Goshen^  even 
unto  Gibeon.     And  all  these  kings  and  their  land  did  43 
Joshua  take  at  one  time,  because  the  Lord,  the  God  of 
Israel,  fought  for  Israel.     And  Joshua  returned,  and  all  43 
Israel  with  him,  unto  the  camp  to  Gilgal. 

[JE]  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jabin  kingof  Hazor  heard  11 
*  Heb.  devoted. 

20  ;  connected  with  Pisgah  (Deut.  iii.  17,  iv.  49)  and  with  Amon 
(Num.  xxi.  15)  ;  here  more  generally,  it  would  seem,  for  the 
regions  west  and  east  of  the  '  hill-country.* 

all  that  breathed :  Deut.  xx.  16. 
41.  Kadesh-barnea  :  (Deut.  i.  2)  'Ain  Kadis,  fifty  miles  south 
of  Beersheba. 

Gaza :  (Deut.  ii.  23)  near  the  coast,  the  most  southern  of  the 
chief  Philistine  cities. 

the  country  of  Oosheu :  (xi.  16)  ;  not,  of  course,  that  of 
Egypt  (Gen.  xlvi.  28) ;  the  reference  is  obscure,  since  no  place  or 
district  of  this  name  is  known  in  the  south  of  Palestine.  The 
town  of  this  name  in  the  hill-country  of  Judah  (xv.  51)  cannot  be 
intended. 

xi.  The  Northern  Campaign :  general  review.  Jabin  of  Hazor 
forms  a  league  of  northern  kings  (verses  1-4).  A  battle  is  fought 
with  them  by  the  waters  of  Merom,  in  which  they  are  utterly 
defeated  and  destroyed  (verses  4-9).  Hazor,  the  centre  of  the 
league,  is  captured  and  burnt ;  the  other  cities  are  taken,  but  not 
burnt ;  the  inhabitants,  however,  are  in  every  case  destroyed,  the 
spoil  only,  including  the  cattle,  being  retained  by  Israel  (verses 
10-15).  The  two  campaigns,  south  and  north,  are  briefly  noticed  ; 
the  Gibeonites  form  the  solitary  exception  to  the  policy  of  ex- 
termination (verses  16-20).  Joshua  also  destroyed  the  Anakim, 
except  some  in  Philistia  (verses  21,  22).  Thus  the  whole  land 
was  taken  for  division  amongst  Israel  (verse  23). 

The  narrative  of  the  defeat  of  the  northern  league  against 
Israel  (xi.  1-9)  is  parallel  to  that  of  the  southern  (x.  1-27),  and  is 
apparently  from  the  same  source  (JE)  with  additions  (especially 
in  verses  2,  3)  by  R°.  The  subsequent  summaries  (xi.  ro-23)  are  by 
Deuteronomistic  writers  (verses  21-3  may  belong  to  a  different 
stratum  from  the  rest). 


322  JOSHUA  11.  2,  3.     JER° 

thereof,  that  he  sent  to  Jobab  king  of  Madon,  and  to  the 
2  king  of  Shimron,  and  to  the  king  of  Achshaph,  [R°]  and 

to  the  kings  that  were  on  the  north,  in  the  hill  country, 

and  in  the  Arabah  south  of  Chinneroth,  and  in  the  low- 
?,  land,  and  in  «■  the  heights  of  Dor  on  the  west,  to  the 

Canaanite  on  the  east  and  on  the  west,  and  the  Amorite, 

»  Or,  Naphoth  Dor 

1.  Jabiu  king*  of  Kazor:  described  in  Judges  iv.  af.  as  the 
'  King  of  Canaan.'  Sisera,  said  to  be  his  general  (Judges  iv.  2), 
is  overthrown  by  the  tribes  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  under  Barak 
and  Deborah.  The  'Song  of  Deborah'  (Judges  v),  which  cele- 
brates this  victory  and  is  our  earliest  source  for  the  history  of 
Israel,  does  not  mention  Jabin.  Probably  there  were  two  tradi- 
tions relating  to  Jabin  and  Sisera  respectively,  which  have  been 
combined  by  making  Sisera  the  general  of  Jabin.  '  The  war  of 
Zebulun  and  Naphtali  against  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor,  and  his  allies  is 
recounted  in  Joshua  xi.  1-9,  where  it  is  magnified  into  the  conquest 
of  all  the  northern  Canaanites  by  Joshua  and  all  Israel,  in  the 
same  way  in  which  the  victory  of  Judah  and  Simeon  over  Adoni- 
zedek  (Adoni-bezek)  of  Jerusalem  (Jud.  i.  4-7)  is  elaborated  in 
Joshua  X  into  the  account  of  Joshua's  conquest  of  all  Southern 
Canaan  '  (Moore,  Judges,  p.  109). 

Hazor  :  somewhere  near  Kedesh-Naphtalt  and  Lake  Huleh  ; 
but  the  site  of  this,  as  of  other  places  named,  has  not  been 
identified.  Hazor  belonged  to  Naphtali  (xix.  36),  Shimron  to 
Zebulun  (xix.  15),  Achshaph  to  Asher  (xix.  25).  With  possible 
identifications,  the  four  towns  broadly  represent  Galilee. 

2.  hill  country  .  .  .  lowland :  i.  e.  Galilee,  and  the  coast 
north  of  Carmel  respectively. 

the  Arabah  south  of  Chinneroth :  i.  e.  the  Jordan  Valley, 
south  of  the  Sea  of  Gennesareth  (xii.  3,  xiii.  27  ;  Num.  xxxiv. 
11).  Thetownof  Kinnereth  (xix.35;  Deutiii.  17),  of  unknown  site, 
existed  already  in  the  sixteenth  century  b.  c.  (Thutmosis  III),  and 
supplied  the  earlier  name  for  the  Sea  of  Gennesareth  or  Galilee. 

the  heigrhts  of  Dor:  Dor  (Tanturah)  was  an  important 
Phoenician  settlement  on  the  coast  between  Carmel  and  Caesarea. 
Its  '  heights '  or  '  uplands '  are  probably  the  low  hills  south  of 
Carmel  (Conder,  D.B,,  i.  617,  who,  however,  doubts  the  identifi- 
cation with  Tanturah). 

3.  Cf.  Deut.  vii.  i  for  the  names.  The  Kivites  seem  to  belong 
to  Central  Palestine  (ix.  7),  and  probably  '  Hittites '  and  *  Hivites ' 
should  be  interchanged  (as  in  LXX,  B).  *  The  Hittites  of  the 
Lebanon  in  the  O.  T.  are,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  .Semites,  of  the 


JOSHUA  11.  4-8.     R°  JE  323 

and  the  Hittite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and  the  Jebusite  in  the 
hill  country,  and  the  Hivite  under  Hermon  in  the  land 
of  Mizpah.     [JE]  And  they  went  out,  they  and  all  their  4 
hosts  with  them,  much  people,  even  as  the  sand  that  is 
upon  the  sea  shore  in  multitude,  with  horses  and  chariots 
very  many.   And  all  these  kings  met  together ;   and  they  5 
came  and  pitched  together  at  the  waters  of  Merom,  to 
fight  with  Israel.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Be  6 
not  afi-aid  because  of  them :  for  to-morrow  at  this  time  will  I 
deliver  them  up  all  slain  before  Israel :  thou  shalt  hough 
their  horses,  and  burn  their  chariots  with  fire.    So  Joshua  7 
came,  and  all  the  people  of  war  with  him,  against  them  by 
the  waters  of  Merom  suddenly,  and  fell  upon  them. 
And  the  Lord  delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  Israel,  8 
and  they  smote  them,  and  chased  them  unto  great  Zidon, 

Palestinian  rather  than  the  Aramaean  branch  of  the  race* 
(Moore,  Judges,  p.  82),  and  are  not  to  be  confused  with  the  Hittite 
empire  of  the  Egyptian  wars.  For  a  statement  of  our  present 
knowledge  of  the  Hittites,  see  Jastrow's  article  in  E.B.,  2094-2100. 
the  land  of  Mizpah  (i.  e.  of  the  '  watch-tower')  ;  some  district 
north-east  of  the  waters  of  Merom. 

4.  chariots :  plated  with  iron  (xvii.  16)  ;  the  Hittite  chariot 
had  usually  two  horses  and  three  riders,  the  driver,  the  bowman, 
and  the  shield-bearer  (see  the  illustrations  in  E.B.,  729,  or  in 
S.B.O.T.,  frontispiece  to  'Joshua'). 

5.  met  tog'ether :  Heb.  '  assembled  by  appointment '  (Ps. 
xlviii.  4). 

the  waters  of  Merom  :  usually  identified  (as  in  the  map  pre- 
fixed to  this  volume)  with  Lake  Huleh,  the  highest  of  the  three 
lakes  in  the  Jordan  Valley  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  481)  ;  but  this  is  doubted 
by  Buhl  {Geographie  des  alien  Paldstina,  p.  113),  and  by  recent 
commentators.  The  geography  of  this  campaign  is  obscure  and 
uncertain. 

6.  hong-h  :  *  hamstring,'  i.  e.  cut  the  tendon  of  the  joint  in  the 
hind  leg  of  a  quadruped  which  corresponds  to  the  ankle  in  man  (cf. 
2  Sam.  viii.  4  ;  Gen.  xlix.  6)  ;  a  custom  due  either  to  Israel's 
inability  to  use  horses  and  chariots  (Steuernagel),  or  to  the  belief 
that  trust  in  Yahweh  would  be  lessened  by  the  use  of  such  aids 
(Dillmann) :  cf.  Isa.  ii.  7  ;  Deut.  xvii.  16. 

8.  great  Zidon:  (xix.  28)  <  great,'  to  distinguish  it  from  a  smaller 

Y    2 


324  JOSHUA  11.  9-14.     JER"" 

and  unto  Misrephoth-maim,  and  unto  the  valley  of 
Mizpeh  eastward ;  and  they  smote  them,  until  they  left 
9  them  none  remaining.  And  Joshua  did  unto  them  as 
the  Lord  bade  him :  he  houghed  their  horses,  and  burnt 
their  chariots  with  fire. 

10  [RJ^]  And  Joshua  turned  back  at  that  time,  and  took 
Hazor,  and  smote  the  king  thereof  with  the  sword :  for 
Hazor  beforetime  was  the  head  of  all  those  kingdoms. 

1 1  And  they  smote  all  the  souls  that  were  therein  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword,  *  utterly  destroying  them  :  there  was 
none  left  that  breathed :  and  he  burnt  Hazor  with  fire. 

12  And  all  the  cities  of  those  kings,  and  all  the  kings  of 
them,  did  Joshua  take,  and  he  smote  them  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  and  ^  utterly  destroyed  them  ;  as  Moses  the 

13  servant  of  the  Lord  commanded.  But  as  for  the  cities 
that  stood  on  their  mounds,  Israel  burned  none  of  them, 

14  save  Hazor  only  ;  that  did  Joshua  burn.  And  all  the  spoil 
of  these  cities,  and  the  cattle,  the  children  of  Israel  took  for 
a  prey  unto  themselves  ;  but  every  man  they  smote  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  until  they  had  destroyed  them, 

*  Heb,  devoting.  ^  Heb.  devoted. 


place  of  the  same  name,  for  whose  existence  there  is  cuneiform 
authority. 

Misrephoth-maim :  site  unknown,  but  apparently  on  the 
sea-coast  (xiii.  6).  'Ain-Mesherfe,  south  of  the  *  Ladder  of  Tyre/ 
is  suggested. 

10  f.  Cf.  the  similar,  but  more  detailed,  review  of  the  southern 
campaign,  x.  28-43. 

the  head:  see  on  verse  i. 

13.  on.  their  moouds :  (Jer.  xxx.  18)  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and 
Syriac  /^/=' mound,'  so  frequent  and  familiar  in  place-names; 
used  in  Deut.  xiii.  16,  Jer.  xlix.  a  of  the  'heap'  of  ruins  of  a 
destroyed  city.  These  elevated  cities  are  apparently  supposed  to  be 
reserved  for  the  settlement  of  Israelites. 

14.  As  in  the  case  of  Ai  (viii.  27). 


JOSHUA  11.  15-20.     R°  325 

neither  left  they  any  that  breathed.     As  the  Lord  com-  15 
manded   Moses  his   servant,  so   did   Moses   command 
Joshua:   and  so  did  Joshua  ;  ^he  left  nothing  undone  of 
all  that  the  Lord  commanded  Moses. 

So  Joshua  took  all  that  land,  the  hill  country,  and  all  16 
the  South,  and  all  the  land  of  Goshen,  and  the  lowland, 
and  the  Arabah,  and  the  hill  country  of  Israel,  and  the 
lowland  of  the  same  ;  from  ^  mount  Halak,  that  goeth  up  1 7 
to  Seir,  even  unto  Baal-gad  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon 
under  mount  Hermon :  and  all  their  kings  he  took,  and 
smote  them,  and  put  them  to  death.     Joshua  made  war  1 8 
a  long  time  with  all  those  kings.     There  was  not  a  city  19 
that  made  peace  with  the  children  of  Israel,  save  the 
Hivites   the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  :    they  took  all   in 
battle.     For  it  was  of  the  Lord  to  c  harden  their  hearts,  20 
to  come  against  Israel  in  battle,  that  he  might  ^  utterly 
destroy  them,  that  they  ^  might  have   no  favour,   but 

*  Heb.  he  removed  nothing.  ^  Or,  the  bare  mountain 

^  Heb.  make  strong.  *  Heb.  devote. 

•  Or,  might  not  sue /or  favour 

15.  A  keynote  of  the  book,  stating  the  dominant  conception  of 
RPf  in  his  compilation  of  the  narrative  of  the  Conquest.  See 
Introd.,  pp.  261,  267. 

16-20.  A  combined  review  of  the  results  of  the  two  campaigns. 

17.  mount  Kalak,  that  goeth  tip  to  Seir  :  xii.  7  ;  the  'Seir' 
is  that  of  Deut.  ii.  5,  in  the  extreme  south  of  Palestine,  west  of  the 
Arabah. 

Baal-gad :  xii.  7,  xiii.  5  (so  called  from  the  worship  of  the 
god  of  Fortune  practised  there)  ;  perhaps  Caesarea  Philippi 
(Panias),  the  objection  being  that  the  latter  can  hardly  be  said  to 
lie  within  the  *  valley-plain  '  of  Lebanon.  The  first  part  of  this 
verse  corresponds  to  our  English  phrase  'from  Land's  End  to 
John  o'  Groats.' 

18.  a  long  time  :  see  on  xiv.  10,  implying  five  or  seven  years. 
20.  harden  (their  hearts)  :    'make  obstinate'  ;  Exod.  iv.  ai, 

&c.    (of    Pharaoh).      Their    obstinacy  is    'of  Yahweh,'  i.e.    it 
originated  in  His  purpose  and  came  through  His  inspiration. 

favonr :    i.  e.   from  Israel  (Esra   ix.    8,  R.V.   '  grace '  from 


326  JOSHUA  11.  21— 12.  I.     R° 

that  he  might  destroy  them,  as  the  Lord  commanded 
Moses. 

2 1  And  Joshua  came  at  that  time,  and  cut  off  the  Anakim 
from  the  hill  country,  from  Hebron,  from  Debir,  from 
Anab,  and  from  all  the  hill  country  of  Judah,  and  from 
all  the  hill  country  of  Israel  :  Joshua  «■  utterly  destroyed 

2  2  them  with  their  cities.  There  was  none  of  the  Anakim 
left  in  the  land  of  the  children  of  Israel :  only  in  Gaza,  in 

23  Gath,  and  in  Ashdod,  did  some  remain.  So  Joshua  took 
the  whole  land,  according  to  all  that  the  Lord  spake 
unto  Moses ;  and  Joshua  gave  it  for  an  inheritance  unto 
Israel  according  to  their  divisions  by  their  tribes.  And 
the  land  had  rest  from  war. 

12      Now   these  are   the   kings   of  the   land,    whom   the 

*  Heb.  devoted. 

Yahweh);  elsewhere  the  word  is  used  for  <  supplication  for 
favour,'  whence  comes  R.  V.  marg. 

21-23.     An  appendix  on  the  expulsion  of  the  giants  by  Joshua. 

21.  at  that  time:  cf.  x.  36,  to  which  reference  is  possibly 
made. 

Anakim :  the  (long)-necked  men,  i.  e.  those  of  great 
height ;  xiv.  la,  xv.  13,  14  (expelled  by  Caleb)  ;  Judges  i.  10 
(expelled  by  Judah)  ;  Deut.  i.  28 ;  Num.  xiii.  22,  28,  33.  They 
are  generally  connected  with  Hebron,  but  are  here  more  widely 
distributed. 

Debir:  x.  38. 

Anab :  xv.  50  ;  the  name  is  still  found  near  to  Debir,  fourteen 
miles  south-west  of  Hebron. 

22.  Oasa,  Gath,  Ashdod:  the  well-known  cities  of  Philistia, 
the  first  and  the  third  near  or  on  the  sea-coast,  the  second  inland, 
probably  at  Tell-es-Safiyeh,  at  the  entrance  to  the  Vale  of  Elah 
\H.G  H.L.,  p.  194  f.).  An  illustration  of  the  tradition  of  this  verse 
is  supplied  by  '■  Goliath  of  Gath '  (i  Sam.  xvii.  4). 

23.  The  two  halves  of  this  verse  summarize  respectively  the 
two  halves  of  the  Book  of  Joshua,  viz.  the  Conquest  (chaps, 
i-xii)  and  the  Division  of  Canaan  (chaps,  xiii-xxiv). 

had  rest :  as  in  xiv.  15. 

xii.  Catalogue  of  the  conquered  kings  on  the  east  (verses  1-6) 


JOSHUA  12.  2-6.     R^  327 

children   of    Israel   smote,    and    possessed    their    land 
beyond  Jordan   toward  the  sunrising,   from  the   valley 
of  Arnon   unto  mount    Hermon,   and   all   the   Arabah 
eastward  :    Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,  who  dwelt  in  2 
Heshbon,  and  ruled  from  Aroer,  which  is  on  the  edge  of 
the  valley  of  Arnon,  and  *  the  city  that  is  in  the  middle 
of  the   valley,    and   half  Gilead,    even   unto   the   river 
Jabbok,  the  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon ;  and  the  3 
Arabah  unto  the  sea  of  Chinneroth,  eastward,  and  unto 
the  sea  of  the  Arabah,  even  the  Salt  Sea,  eastward,  the 
way  to  Beth-jeshimoth ;   and  on  the  south,   under  the 
slopes  of  Pisgah  :  and  the  border  of  Og  king  of  Bashan,  4 
of  the  remnant  of  the  Rephaim,  who  dwelt  at  Ashtaroth 
and   at   Edrei,    and   ruled  in  mount  Hermon,  and  in  5 
Salecah,    and   in   all   Bashan,    unto   the  border  of  the 
Geshurites  and  the  Maacathites,  and  half  Gilead,  the 
border  of  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon.     Moses  the  servant  6 
of  the  Lord  and  the  children  of  Israel  smote  them  :  and 
Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  gave  it  for  a  possession 
■  See  Deut.  ii.  36. 


and  on  the  west  (verses  7-24)  of  Jordan  ;  Sihon  (verses  4-5)  and 
Og  (verses  4-5")  having  been  overcome,  and  their  territory 
divided,  by  Moses  (verse  6),  whilst  Joshua  occupied  and  assigned 
the  western  territory  (verses  7,  8),  viz.  that  of  the  thirty-one  (or 
thirty)  kings  here  specified  (verses  9-24). 

The  first  half  of  this  summary  is  based  on  Deut.  ii,  iii  ;  the 
second  incorporates  the  deeds  of  Joshua  from  Joshua  vi  f.,  but 
adds  (from  some  unknown  source)  fifteen  kings,  viz.  those  of 
Geder,  Hormah,  Arad,  Adullam,  Bethel,  Tappuah,  Hepher, 
Aphek  of  the  Sharon  (LXX),  Tanaach,  Megiddo,  Kedesh, 
Jokneam,  Dor,  Tirzah,  the  nations  of  Galilee  (LXX). 

1-6.  For  notes  on  the  particular  names,  see  Deut.  ii  and  iii, 
where  all  will  be  found  except 

Beth-jeshimoth:  (xiii.  20;  Num.  xxxiii.  49)  probably 
Suweimeh,  at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  Dead  Sea  ;  here  named 
as  a  southern  limit  to  the  territory  of  Sihon  ;  and 

Ashtaroth :  ix.  10 ;  Deut.  i.  4. 


328  JOSHUA  12.  7-13.     R° 

unto  the  Reubenites,  and  the  Gadites,  and  the  half  tribe 
of  Manasseh. 

7  And  these  are  the  kings  of  the  land  whom  Joshua  and 
the  children  of  Israel  smote  beyond  Jordan  westward, 
from  Baal-gad  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon  even  iinto 
a  mount  Halak,  that  goeth  up  to  Seir ;  and  Joshua  gave 
it  unto  the  tribes  of  Israel  for  a  possession  according  to 

S  their  divisions ;  in  the  hill  country,  and  in  the  lowland, 
and  in  the  Arabah,  and  in  the  slopes,  and  in  the 
wilderness,  and  in  the  South ;  the  Hittite,  the  Amorite, 
and  the  Canaanite,  the  Perizzite,  the  Hivite,  and  the 

9  Jebusite :   the  king  of  Jericho,   one ;   the   king  of  Ai, 

10  which  is  beside  Beth-el,  one ;  the  king  of  Jerusalem, 

1 1  one ;  the  king  of  Hebron,  one ;  the  king  of  Jarmuth, 
1  a  one ;  the  king  of  Lachish,  one ;  the  king  of  Eglon,  one ; 
13  the  king  of  Gezer,  one;   the  king  of  Debir,  one;  the 

*  See  ch.  xi.  17. 
.(:/  hnK  fi;{oJ 

7.  Cf.  xi.  17. 

8.  Cf.  ix.  I,  X.  40,  xi.  2,  16  ;  the  wilderness  of  Judah  (xv.  61 ; 
Judges  i.  16)  is  added,  i.  e.  the  district  between  the  Dead  Sea  and 
the  *  hill-country,'  known  as  Jeshimon  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  313). 

9  f .  Jericho  (vi.  if.),  Ai  (vii.  zQ,  Jerusalem  (x.  3,  not  itself 
taken),  Hebron  (x.  36),  Jarmuth  (x.  3),  Lachish  (x.  31),  Eglon 
(x.  34),  Gezer  (x.  33),  Debir  (x.  38),  Geder  (not  known,  here 
only),  Hormah  (Num.  xiv.  45),  Arad  (Num.  xxi.  i  ;  Tell  Arad, 
seventeen  miles  south-east  of  Hebron,  H.G.H.L.,  p.  278),  Libnah 
(x.  29),  Adullam  (Gen.  xxxviii.  i ;  'Aid  el-ma,  sixteen  miles  south- 
west of  Jerusalem,  H.G.H.L.,  p.  229),Makkedah(x.28),  Bethel  (cf. 
viii.  17),  Tappuah  (xvi.  8),  Hepher  (neither  known,  but  in  Central 
Palestine),  Aphek  (not  known),  Lasharon  (read  with  LXX, '  which 
is  in  Sharon,*  and  connect  with  previous  name),  Madon,  Hazor, 
Shimron-meron,  Achshaph  (xi.  i,  2),  Taanach  (xvii.  11,  xxi.  25; 
south  of  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon),  Megiddo  (probably  Lejjun, 
opposite  Jezreel,  H.G.H.L.,  p.  386),  Kedesh  (xix.  37,  north-west 
of  Lake  Huleh,  i.e.  Kedesh-Naphtali),  Jokneam  (xix.  11,  xxi.  34  ; 
north-west  of  Esdraelon),  Dor  (xi.  2),  Goiim  fas  R.  V.  marg.  ; 
read  with  LXX,  *  in  Galilee'  for  *  in  Gilgal '),  Tirzah  (in  Mount 
Ephraim,  site  disputed,  H,G.H.L.,  p.  355  :  cf.  E.B.,  5102). 


JOSHUA  12.  14—13.  I.     R^  JE  329 

king  of  Geder,  one ;  the  king  of  Hormah,  one ;  the  king  14 
of  Arad,  one;  the  king  of  Libnah,  one;  the  king  of  15 
Adullam,  one;  the  king  of  Makkedah,  one;  the  king  of  16 
Beth-el,  one;  the  king  of  Tappuah,  one;  the  king  of  17 
Hepher,  one ;  the  king  of  Aphek,  one ;  the  king  of  18 
Lassharon,  one ;  the  king  of  Madon,  one ;  the  king  of  19 
Hazor,  one ;  the  king  of  Shimron-meron,  one ;  the  king  20 
of  Achshaph,  one ;  the  king  of  Taanach,  one ;  the  king  2 1 
of  Megiddo,  one;  the  king  of  Kedesh,  one;  the  king  of  22 
Jokneam  in  Carmel,  one ;  the  king  of  Dor  in  ^-the  height  23 
of  Dor,  one ;  the  king  of  ^  Goiim  in  Gilgal,  one ;  the  24 
king  of  Tirzah,  one  :  all  the  kings  thirty  and  one. 

[ JE]  Now  Joshua  was  old  and  well  stricken  in  years ;  13 
*  Or,  Naphaih'dor  ^  Or,  nations 

XIII  f.  The  Division  of  the  Land.  o<;^ 

Here  begins  the  second  half  of  the  book,  devoted  to  the 
Division  of  the  Land,  whose  conquest  has  been  described  in 
chaps,  i-xii.  It  belongs  chiefly  to  P  (see  Introd.,  II.  3),  and  it 
should  be  noticed  that  the  boundaries  for  the  nine  and  a  half 
tribes  (cf.  Num.  xxxiv.  1-15)  agree  substantially  with  those  of 
the  land  allotted  by  Ezekiel  for  the  twelve  tribes,  on  their  restora- 
tion from  exile  (Ezek.  xlvii.  13-20).  *  Here,  as  in  other  things, 
what  Ezekiel  embodies  in  his  description  of  the  ideal  future,  P 
embodies  in  his  account  of  the  idealized  past '  (Gray,  Numbers, 
P-  453). 

xiii.  Yahweh  recapitulates  to  Joshua  the  districts  left  uncon- 
quered,  within  the  ideal  boundaries  (verses  1-6),  and  bids  him 
divide  the  land  amongst  the  (western)  tribes  (verse  7).  Summary 
of  the  eastern  territory  (verses  8-12).  An  exception  to  the 
occupation  (Geshurites,  verse  13),  and  to  the  participation  (Levi, 
verse  14,  cf.  verse  33).  Inheritance  of  Reuben  (verses  15-23),  of 
Gad  (verses  24-8),  and  of  Eastern  Manasseh  (verses  29-31),  com- 
pleting the  division  of  the  country  east  of  Jordan  (verse  32). 

xiii.  1-14  has  been  expanded  by  the  Deuteronomistic  editor 
from  a  fragment  of  JE,  representing  the  conquest  of  the  Promised 
Land  as  incomplete.  The  remainder  of  the  chapter  belongs  to 
what  is  now  the  main  source,  P. 

1.  well  stricken  in  years  :  the  Hebrew  idiom  is  '  advanced  in 


330  JOSHUA   13.  2,  3.     JE  R^ 

and  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Thou  art  old  and  well 
stricken  in  years,  and  there  remaineth  yet  very  much 

2  land  to  be  possessed.     [R°]  This  is  the  land  that  yet 
remaineth  :  all  the  regions  of  the  Philistines,  and  all  the 

3  Geshurites ;  from  ^  the  Shihor,  which  is  before  Egypt, 

*  Commonly  called,  the  brook  of  Egypt.     See  Num.  xxxiv.  5. 

days';   in  xxiv.   29  Joshua  is  said  to  have  been  no  when  he 
died.     See  note  on  i.  i. 

remaineth,  &c.  :  this  verse,  with  7*,  may  have  referred 
originally  to  the  internal  territory ;  but  it  has  been  interpreted 
by  Ri*  in  verses  2-6  of  the  territory  external  to  Israel,  on  the  far 
south  and  north.  Kuenen  {Hex.  p.  135)  and  others  connect  it 
with  xviii.  2  f.,  as  referring  to  the  land  to  be  divided  among  the 
seven  tribes  (after  the  settlement  of  Judah  and  Joseph).  If  this 
is  correct,  R^  has  altered  '  seven '  to  *  nine  and  a  half '  in  verse  7, 
when  making  the  editorial  transference. 

2  f.  Recapitulation  of  unconquered  territory,  on  the  borders  of 
Israel. 

Philistines :  particularized  in  verse  3,  where  are  named  the 
inhabitants  of  their  five  principal  cities,  viz.  Gaza,  Ashkelon,  and 
Ashdod  on  or  near  the  coast,  Gath  in  the  Shephelah,  and  Ekron 
eight  miles  south-east  of  Lydda.  Their  *  regions  '  extended  along 
the  Maritime  Plain  from  Joppa  for  forty  miles,  to  the  south  of 
Gaza.  For  the  history  of  this  remarkable  people,  see  Moore  in 
E.B.,  S.V.,  or  G.  A.  Smith,  H.G.H.L.,  chap.  ix. 

Geshurites :  i  Sam.  xxvii.  8,  where  they  are  located  south 
of  Philistia,  in  the  extreme  south-west  of  Palestine.  The  name 
occurs  also  in  verse  11  (cf.  xii.  5  ;  Deut.  iii.  14),  but  of  another 
group  in  the  north-east  of  Palestine. 

3.  the  Shihor :  denoting  the  Pelusiac  arm  of  the  Nile  in  Isa. 
xxiii.  3  ;  Jer.  ii.  18  ;  so,  possibly,  here  and  in  i  Chron.  xiii.  5. 
In  XV.  4,  47  (cf.  Num.  xxxiv,  5  ;  i  Kings  viii.  65  ;  2  Kings 
xxiv.  7  ;  Isa.  xxvii,  12  ;  2  Chron,  vii.  8)  the  south-west  border  of 
Judah  is  defined  by  the  'Brook  of  Egypt,'  identified  with  the 
Wady  el-'Arish,  flowing  into  the  Mediterranean  midway  between 
Gaza  and  Pelusium.  With  this  R.  V,  marg.  identifies  'the 
Shihor.'  Authorities  are  divided  as  to  these  two  views  (cf. 
Wilson,  in  D.B.,  iv.  498). 

before  Effypt:  i.e.  east  of  it  (Deut.  xxxii.  49,  xxxiv.  i,  E.V. 

'  over  against ' ),  according  to  the  familiar  Hebrew  idiom  which 

(takes  the  left  hand  to  represent  the  north  (xix.  27  ;  Gen.  xiv.  15 

i  R.  v.),  the  right  hand  the  south  (Ps.  Ixxxix.  12),  and  behind,  the 

west  (Judges  xviii.  12). 


JOSHUA  13.  4-6.     R°  331 

even   unto   the   border   of  Ekron  northward,  which  is 
counted    to    the    Canaanites  :    the    five    lords   of   the 
Philistines  ;    the    Gazites,    and    the     Ashdodites,     the 
Ashkelonites,    the   Gittites,    and   the   Ekronites ;    «■  also  4 
the  Avvim,  on  the  south  :  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites, 
and    Mearah   that   belongeth   to    the    Zidonians,    unto 
'  Aphek,  to  the  border  of  the  Amorites :  and  the  land  of  5 
the  Gebalites,  and  all  Lebanon,  toward  the  sunrising, 
from  Baal-gad  under  mount  Hermon  unto  the  entering 
in  of  Hamath :   all  the  inhabitants  of  the  hill  country  5 
from   Lebanon   unto   Misrephoth-maim,    even    all    the 
Zidonians  ;    them   will   I   drive   out    from    before    the 
•  Or,  also  the  Avvim  :  from  the  south,  all  dc. 

which  is  counted  to  the  Canaanites :  and  is  therefore  part 
of  the  (ideal)  inheritance  of  Israel.  The  Phihstines  may  have 
seized  this  territory  shortly  before  the  Israelite  invasion  ;  they 
are  not  mentioned  in  the  Tell  el-Amarna  Letters  (1400  B.C.),  nor 
do  they  appear  on  the  monuments  of  Ramses  II  (1340-1273).  (Cf. 
E.B..  3718,  and  see  on  Deut.  ii.  23.) 

also  the  Avvim :  Deut.  ii.  23  ;  with  this  connect  the  words 
<  on  the  south '  as  in  R.  V.  text,  following  the  versions. 

4.  aU  the  land  of  the  Canaanites :  Deut.  i.  7 ;  here,  also,  of 

Phoenicia.  . «    x  ,  ^1. 

Mearah  is  unknown  ;  Aphek  =  Aphaca  (Afka),  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Adonis  (Nahr  Ibrahim);  for  Amorites,  see  on 
Deut.  i.  7. 

5.  the  land  of  the  QebaUtes :  Gebal  -  Byblus,  the  ancient 
Phoenician  city,  and  the  centre  of  the  Tammuz  cult,  four  miles 
north  of  the  Adonis  (now  Jebeil). 

Baal-gad:  xi.  17.  •      .  c 

the  entering  in  of  Hamath :  a  phrase  frequent  m  definitions 
of  the  north  boundary.  Hamath  lay  on  the  Orontes,  150  miles 
north  of  Dan  ;  '  the  entrance  to  Hamath  '  is  either  the  mouth  of 
the  pass  between  Lebanon  and  Hermon,  as  the  starting-point  of 
the  road  to  Hamath  (Driver  on  Amos  vi.  2,  Cam.  Bib.),  or  the  plam 
HOms,  thirty  miles  south  of  Hama  (Moore,  Judges,  p.  80). 
'  6.  Misrephoth-maim :  xi.  8  ;  the  first  part  of  the  verse  com- 
prehends (from  east  to  west)  the  territory  named  in  verses  4,  5. 

them  will  I  drive  out :  the  '  I  '  is  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew  ; 
Yahwch   makes   Himself  responsible   for  the   expulsion  of  the 


332  JOSHUA  13.  7-12.     R^  JE  R° 

children  of  Israel :  only  allot  thou  it  unto  Israel  for  an 

7  inheritance,  as  I  have  commanded  thee.  [JE]  Now 
therefore  divide  this  land  for  an  inheritance  [R°]  unto 

8  the  nine  tribes,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh.  With 
him  the  Reubenites  and  the  Gadites  received  their 
inheritance,  which  Moses  gave  them,  beyond  Jordan 
eastward,  even  as  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  gave 

9  them ;  from  Aroer,  that  is  on  the  edge  of  the  valley  of 
Arnon,  and  the  city  that  is  in  the  middle  of  the  valley, 

10  and  all  the  '"^  plain  of  Medeba  unto  Dibon;  and  all  the 
cities  of  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,  which  reigned  in 
Heshbon,  unto  the  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon  ; 

11  and  Gilead,  and  the  border  of  the  Geshurites  and 
Maacathites,  and  all  mount  Hermon,  and  all  Bashan 

12  unto  Salecah  ;  all  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan,  which 
reigned  in  Ashtaroth  and  in  Edrei  (the  same  was  left  of 
the   remnant  of  the  Rephaim) ;   for  these   did   Moses 

^  Ot,  table  land 


peoples  of  these  territories,  so  that  Joshua  may  now  proceed  to 
the  division  of  the  land. 

allot :  xxiii.  4  ;  lit. '  make  (the  lot)  to  fall ' :  cf.  Num.  xxxiv.  2. 

as  I  have  commanded  thee :  i.  6  ;  Oeut.  iii.  28,  xxxi.  7. 

7.  the  nine  tribes :  i.  e.  excluding  Reuben  and  Gad,  and  the 
half  of  Manasseh,  whose  territory  is  already  assigned  on  the  east 
of  Jordan.  The  first  half  of  the  verse  continues  verse  i,  *  this 
land  '  being  Canaan,  not,  of  course,  the  land  unconquered. 

8.  With  him  does  not  connect  properly  with  verse  7,  since 
*  him '  must  denote  the  eastern  half  of  Manasseh,  whilst  verse  7 
(to  which  the  pronoun  would  refer)  speaks  of  Western  Manasseh. 
Some  words  have  dropped  out  between  verse  7  and  verse  8,  e.  g. 
'For  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  and'  (Dillmann).  LXX  inserts 
'  from  the  Jordan  unto  the  Great  Sea  in  the  direction  of  the 
sunset  shalt  thou  give  it.  The  Great  Sea  shall  be  the  boundary,' 
and  reads  in  verse  8,  *  to  the  (two)  tribes,  and  to  the  half  of  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh,  to  Reuben  and  to  Gad  gave  Moses,'  &c. 

8  f.  which  Moses  ifave  them  :  xii.  1-5  ;  Deut.  iii.  8-13,  where 
see  the  notes. 


JOSHUA  13.  13-21.     JR^P  333 

smite,  and  drave  them  out.  [J]  Nevertheless  the  13 
children  of  Israel  drave  not  out  the  Geshurites,  nor  the 
Maacathites  :  but  Geshur  and  Maacath  dwelt  in  the 
midst  of  Israel,  unto  this  day.  [R°]  Only  unto  the  14 
tribe  of  Levi  he  gave  none  inheritance ;  the  offerings  of 
I  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  made  by  fire  are  his 
inheritance,  as  he  spake  unto  him. 

[P]  And  Moses  gave  unto  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  15 
Reuben  according  to  their  families.     And  their  border  16 
was  from  Aroer,  that  is  on  the  edge  of  the  valley  of 
Arnon,  and  the  city  that  is  in  the  middle  of  the  valley, 
and  all  the  » plain  by  Medeba ;  Heshbon,  and  all  her  1 7 
cities  that  are  in  the  ^  plain ;  Dibon,  and  Bamoth-baal, 
and  Beth-baal-meon ;  and  Jahaz,  and  Kedemoth,  and  18 
Mephaath;   and  Kiriathaim,  and  Sibmah,  and  Zereth- 19 
shahar  in  the  mount  of  the  valley ;  and  Beth-peor,  and  20 
the  ^  slopes  of  Pisgah,  and  Beth-jeshimoth ;  and  all  the  2 1 
cities  of  the  **  plain,  and  all  the  kingdom  of  Sihon  king 
of   the   Amorites,   which   reigned   in   Heshbon,   whom 
Moses  smote  with  the  chiefs  of  Midian,  Evi,  and  Rekem, 

*  Or,  table  land  ^  Or,  springs 


13.  See  Introd.,  III.  i  (a),  for  the  important  evidence  of  this 
and  similar  statements  (incompleteness  of  conquest). 

14.  the  tribe  of  Levi :  verse  33,  xiv.  3  ;  Deut.  x.  9,  xviii.  i 
(notes). 

the  oflfering's  .  .  .  made  by  fire  :  one  vi'ord  in  Hebrew, 
which  has  here  been  interpolated,  as  the  grammar  of  the  Hebrew 
sentence  shows  (LXX  omits).  The  sentence  read  originally  as 
verse  33^ 

xiii.  15-33.  Tribal  territories  east  of  Jordan  (P).  Cf.  Num. 
xxxii.  34  f.  Details  as  to  the  site  (where  identified)  and  history 
of  the  cities  hereafter  catalogued  may  be  found  most  conveniently 
in  the  Bible  Dictionaries,  under  the  respective  names  ;  points  of 
special  interest  only  will  be  noticed  here. 

xiii.  15-23.   The  Inheritance  0/ Reuben. 


334  JOSHUA  13.  22-28.     P 

and  Zur,  and  Hur,  and  Reba,  the  princes  of  Sihon,  that 

32  dwelt  in  the  land.     Balaam  also  the  son  of  Beor,  the 

soothsayer,  did  the  children  of  Israel  slay  with  the  sword 

23  among  the  rest  of  their  slain.  And  the  border  of  the 
children  of  Reuben  was  Jordan,  and  the  border  thereof. 
This  was  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Reuben 
according  to  their  famihes,  the  cities  and  the  villages 
thereof. 

24  And   Moses  gave  unto  the  tribe  of  Gad,   unto  the 

25  children  of  Gad,  according  to  their  families.  And  their 
border  was  Jazer,  and  all  the  cities  of  Gilead,  and  half 
the  land  of  the  children  of  Ammon,  unto  Aroer  that  is 

26  before  Rabbah ;  and  from  Heshbon  unto  Ramath- 
mizpeh,  and  Betonim;   and  from  Mahanaim  unto  the 

37  border  of  '^  Debir ;  and  in  the  valley,  Beth-haram,  and 
Beth-nimrah,  and  Succoth,  and  Zaphon,  the  rest  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sihon  king  of  Heshbon,  ^Jordan  and  the 
border  thereof  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  sea  of 

28  Chinnereth  beyond  Jordan  eastward.    This  is  the  inherit- 

*  Or,  Lidehir  ^  Or,  having  Jordan  for  a  border 


21.  the  cMefs  of  Midian:  Num.  xxxi.  8,  where  their  over- 
throw is  mentioned  apart  from  that  of  Sihon. 

22.  Balaam:  named  with  the  Midianites  in  Num.  xxxi.  8  also  ; 
the  term  applied  to  him,  soothsayer  (or  diviner,  Deut.  xviii.  10), 
originally  denoted  divination  by  drawing  lots  with  headless  arrows 
at  a  sanctuary  (see  on  vii.  14),  Its  later  use,  as  here  by  P,  is  in 
a  more  general  and  disparaging  sense,  viz.  the  *  oracle- monger ' 
(Gray,  Numbers,  p.  320).  For  the  story  of  Balaam,  see  Num. 
xxii-xxiv,  esp.  xxii.  5-6 ;  cf.  Joshua  xxiv.  9,  10. 

23.  and  the  border  thereof:  should  be  rendered,  as  in  Deut. 
iii.  16,  R.  V.  marg.,  '  for  a  border.' 

xiii.  24-28.   The  Inheritance  of  Gad. 

26.  Debir :  read  with  R.  V,  marg.  (Lo-debar,  2  Sam.  ix.  4, 
xvii.  27,  may  be  meant). 

27.  the  sea  of  Chinnereth  :  xi.  2. 


JOSHUA  13.  29—14.  I.     P  335 

ance  of  the  children  of  Gad  according  to  their  families, 
the  cities  and  the  villages  thereof.  - 

And   Moses  gave  inheritance  unto  the  half  tribe  of  29 
Manasseh :  and  it  was  for  the  half  tribe  of  the  children 
of  Manasseh   according   to   their   families.     And   their  30 
border  was  from  Mahanaim,  all  Bashan,  all  the  kingdom 
of  Og  king  of  Bashan,  and  all  ^  the  towns  of  Jair,  which 
are  in  Bashan,  threescore  cities :  and  half  Gilead,  and  31 
Ashtaroth,  and  Edrei,  the  cities  of  the  kingdom  of  Og  in 
Bashan,  were  for  the  children  of  Machir  the   son   of 
Manasseh,  even  for  the  half  of  the  children  of  Machir 
according  to  their  families. 

These  are  the  inheritances  which  Moses  distributed  in  32 
the   plains   of  Moab,   beyond   the  Jordan   at  Jericho, 
eastward.     But  unto  the  tribe  of  Levi  Moses  gave  none  33 
inheritance  :    the   Lord,   the  God   of  Israel,   is  their 
inheritance,  as  he  spake  unto  them. 

And  these  are  the  inheritances  which  the  children  of  14 

*  See  Num.  xxxii.  41. 


xiii.  29-31.   The  Inheritance  of  East  Manasseh. 

30.  the  towns  of  Jair  :  '  tent-villages'  :  Deut.  iii.  14  (note). 

31.  half  Oilead:  contrast  verse  25  (verses  29-31  probably 
form  a  later  stratum  of  P). 

Machir  the  sou  of  Manasseh  :  Deut.  iii.  15  ;  the  following 
words  of  the  verse  appear  to  be  a  corrective  gloss  in  the  light  of 
Num.  xxvi.  29,  where  all  Manassites  are  sons  of  Machir.  See  on 
xvii.  I. 

xiii.  32,  33.  Subscription  to  account  of  the  division  of  eastern 
territory. 

32.  Num.  xxxiv.  15  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  i. 

33.  See  on  verse  14  ;  here  probably  a  later  addition  (omitted 
by  LXX). 

xiv.  Introduction  to  the  division  of  western  territory  (verses 
1-5).  Caleb  claims  Hebron,  according  to  the  promise  of  Moses 
(verses  6-9).     He  proposes  to  drive  out  the  Anakim  who  are 


336  JOSHUA  14.  2-4.     P 

Israel  took  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  which  Eleazar  the 
priest,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  the  heads  of  the 
fathers'  houses  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel, 

2  distributed  unto  them,  by  the  lot  of  their  inheritance,  as 
the  Lord  commanded  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  for  the 

3  nine  tribes,  and  for  the  half  tribe.  For  Moses  had  given 
the  inheritance  of  the  two  tribes  and  the  half  tribe 
beyond  Jordan  :    but  unto  the  Levites  he  gave  none 

4  inheritance  among  them.  For  the  children  of  Joseph 
were  two  tribes,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim :  and  they  gave 
no  portion  unto  the  Levites  in  the  land,  save  cities  to 
dwell  in,  with  the  *  suburbs  thereof  for  their  cattle  and 

*  Or,  pasture  lands 

there  (verses  10-12).  Joshua  accordingly  gives  Hebron  to  Caleb 
(verses  13-15)- 

The  account  of  the  division  of  the  country  west  of  Jordan 
(xiv.  I — xix.  51)  is  drawn  chiefly  from  P,  to  whom  verses  1-5  of 
this  chapter  belong,  originally  preceded  by  xviii.  i  (Dillmann). 
The  remainder  of  the  chapter  lies  before  us  as  by  R'^,  though 
probably  based  on  E. 

1.  Eleazar  the  priest:  the  son  and  successor  of  Aaron  (Deut. 
X.  6),  who,  according  to  P  (Num.  xxxiv.  16-29),  with  Joshua, 
and  a  prince  from  each  tribe,  has  been  appointed  to  divide  the 
land  by  lot  (Num.  xxvi.  54-6,  xxxiii.  54).  Contrast  the  different 
representation  of  JE  in  xviii.  6,  8-10. 

the  heads  of  the  fathers' :  a  shorter  form  of  the  phrase  in 
xxii.  14  (note). 

2.  by  the  lot  of  their  inheritance :  read  (with  change  of 
a  single  Hebrew  vowel)  '  by  lot,  as  their  inheritance,*  connecting 
with  verse  i. 

as  Tahweh  commanded :  Num.  xxxiv.  13. 

3  f.  The  writer  proceeds  to  explain  the  number  9^  by  (a)  the 
subtraction  of  the  2^  trans-Jordanic  tribes,  (6)  the  exclusion  of 
Levi,  ic)  the  two  branches  of  the  Josephites  counting  as  two 
tribes  (Gen.  xlviii.  5). 

4.  cities  to  dwell  in :  for  these  wholly  ideal  Levitical  cities, 
cf.  Num.  xxxv.  1-8 ;  Lev.  xxv.  32-4. 

suburbs  :  better  R.  V.  marg.  *  pasture  lands,'  held  in  common 
(xxi.  u).  The  Hebrew  word  is,  literally,  *  a  place  where  cattle 
are  driven.' 


JOSHUA  11.  5-10.     PRD  337 

for  their  substance.     As  the  Lord  commanded  Moses,  5 
so  the  children  of  Israel  did,  and  they  divided  the  land. 

[(E)  R^]  Then  the  children  of  Judah  drew  nigh  unto  6 
Joshua  in  Gilgal :  and  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh  the 
Kenizzite  said  unto  him,  Thou  knowest  the  thing  that 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses  the  man  of  God  concerning 
me  and  concerning  thee  in  Kadesh-barnea.     Forty  years  7 
old  was  I  when  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  sent  me 
from  Kadesh-barnea  to  spy  out  the  land ;  and  I  brought 
him  word  again  as  it  was  in  mine  heart.     Nevertheless  8 
my  brethren  that  went  up  with  me  made  the  heart  of  the 
people  melt :  but  I  wholly  followed  the  Lord  my  God. 
And  Moses  sware  on  that  day,  saying,  Surely  the  land  9 
whereon  thy  foot  hath  trodden  shall  be  an  inheritance  to 
thee  and   to  thy  children  for  ever,  because  thou  hast 
wholly  followed  the  Lord  my  God.     And  now,  behold,  10 
the  Lord  hath  kept  me  alive,  as  he  spake,  these  forty 
and  five  years,  from  the  time  that  the  Lord  spake  this 

6.  Caleb :  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (Num.  xiii.  6,  xxxiv.  19),  the 
faithful  and  courageous  spy  (Num.  xiv.  6).  In  another  tradition 
he  is  called  the  Kenizzite  (Num.  xxxii.  12:  cf,  Judges i.  13),  from 
Kenaz,  an  Edomite  tribe  (Gen.  xxxvi.  11% 

Kadesh-barnea :   Num.   xiii.  26,  xxxii.  8 ;    for  site,  see  on 
Deut.  i.  2. 

7.  in  mine  heart:  Hebrew  'with';  the  heart,  in  Hebrew 
psychology,  is  the  centre  not  of  feeling  only,  but  of  all  psychical 
phenomena,  including  (as  here)  intellectual  states  (Deut.  viii.  5  ; 
I  Kings  x.  2,  &c.). 

8.  For  the  conflicting  testimonies  of  the  spies,  see  Num.  xiii. 
30,  31- 

9.  whereon  thy  foot  hath  trodden :  Hebron  (Num.  xiii.  2a). 
The  promise  is  confirmed  by  the  oath  of  Yahweh  in  Deut.  i.  36 ; 
cf.  Num.  xiv.  24. 

10.  these  forty  and  five  years :  the  exact  time  of  desert- 
wandering,  after  the  departure  from  Kadesh-barnea,  is  given  else- 
where (Deut.  ii.  14)  as  thirty-eight  years.  This  would  leave 
a  period  of  seven  years  (cf.  xi.  18)  for  the  conquest  of  Canaan, 
as  far  as  the  present  point  of  the  narrative  (or  five  years,  if  we 


338  JOSHUA  14.  11-15.     R° 

word  unto  Moses,  while  Israel  walked  in  the  wilderness  : 
and  now,  lo,  I  am  this  day  fourscore  and  five  years  old. 

11  As  yet  I  am  as  strong  this  day  as  I  was  in  the  day  that 
Moses  sent  me :  as  my  strength  was  then,  even  so  is  my 
strength  now,  for  war,  and  to  go  out  and  to  come  in. 

1 2  Now  therefore  give  me  this  mountain,  whereof  the  Lord 
spake  in  that  day;  for  thou  heardest  in  that  day  how 
the  Anakim  were  there,  and  cities  great  and  fenced : 
it  may  be  that  the  Lord  will  be  with  me,  and  I  shall 

13  drive  them  out,  as  the  Lord  spake.  And  Joshua 
blessed  him;  and  he  gave  Hebron  unto  Caleb  the  son 

14  of  Jephunneh  for  an  inheritance.  Therefore  Hebrori 
became  the  inheritance  of  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh 
the  Kenizzite,  unto  this  day ;   because  that  he  wholly 

15  followed  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel.  Now  the  name 
of  Hebron  beforetime  was  ^'^  Kiriath-arba ;   which  Arba 

*  That  is,  The  city  of  Arba. 


subtract  the  conventional  forty  years).  No  other  chronological 
information  is  given  in  this  book  as  to  the  Conquest  (see  Introd., 
III.  2). 

11.  to  g-o  out  and  to  come  in :   Deut.  xxviii.  6,  xxxi.  2,  &c. 

12.  this  mountain:  i.e.  the  'hill-country'  round  Hebron, 
which  is  in  the  highest  part  of  the  mountains  of  Judah. 

Anakim:  xi.  21  (note). 
fenced:  x.  20  (note). 

13.  blessed  him:  the  solemn  blessing,  or  curse  (vi.  26), 
especially  at  an  important  crisis,  had  great  importance  attached  to 
it  by  the  Hebrews,  as  by  other  ancient  peoples  :  cf.  Gen.  ix.  25, 
xxvii.  35,  &c.  Such  blessings  are  really  spells,  charged  with  an 
automatic  power  to  affect  the  future. 

15.  Kiriath-arba :  Judges  i.  10.  The  name  probably  meant 
'Tetrapolis,'  the  'fourfold'  city  (cf,  Moore,  Judges,  p.  23),  ex- 
plained by  Jerome  as  being  the  fourfold  burial-place  of  Adam, 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  The  numeral  form  'arba  '  was  mis- 
understood at  an  early  date,  and  transformed  into  a  legendary 
hero  of  the  Anakim,  Arba,  founder  of  the  city,  and  (in  xv.  13^ 
xxi.  11)  the  father  of  Anak. 


JOSHUA  15.  1-5.     R^P  339 

was  the  greatest   man  among  the  Anakim.     And   the 
land  had  rest  from  war. 

[P]  And  the  lot  for  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Judah  15 
according  to  their  families  was  unto  the  border  of  Edom, 
even  to  the  wilderness  of  Zin  southward,  at  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  south.     And  their  south  border  was  from  the  2 
uttermost  part   of  the   Salt   Sea,    from   the   '^bay   that 
looked   southward  :   and  it  went  out  southward  of  the  3 
ascent  of  Akrabbim,  and  passed  along  to  Zin,  and  went 
up  by  the  south  of  Kadesh-barnea,  and  passed  along  by 
Hezron,  and  went  up  to  Addar,  and  turned  about  to 
Karka :  and  it  passed  along  to  Azmon,  and  went  out  at  4 
the  brook  of  Egypt ;  and  the  goings  out  of  the  border 
were  at  the  sea  :  this  shall  be  your  south  border.     And  5 

*  Heb.  tongue. 

XV.  I-I2.  The  Inheritance  of  Judah  ;  defined  by  a  line  drawn 
from  the  south  end  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  Kadesh,  and  thence  to  the 
Wady  el-'Arlsh  (verses  2-4)  ;  by  the  Dead  Sea  on  the  east  (verse 
5*)  ;  on  the  north,  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  Dead  Sea  mouth  of 
the  Jordan  across  to  the  Mediterranean,  having  on  it,  or  near  it, 
the  following  places  (amongst  others),  viz.  Beth-Hoglah,  Adum- 
mim,  En-Shemesh,  Jerusalem,  Kiriath-jearim,  Chesalon,  Beth- 
Shemesh,  Timnath,  Ekron,  Jabneel  (verses  5^-11) ;  on  the  west 
by  the  Mediterranean  (verse  12). 

If.  See  especially  G.  A.  Smith,  H.  G.  H.  L.,  chap,  xiii,  'The 
Borders  and  Bulwarks  of  Judaea,'  where  the  character  of  the 
debatable  north  frontier  is  described.  The  same  frontier 
delineated  by  towns  and  natural  features  in  verses  s**-!!  is  given, 
for  the  most  part,  as  the  south  border  of  Benjamin  in  xviii.  ia-19 
(though  reversed,  from  west  to  east). 

1.  Edom:  the  district  of  Mount  Seir  (Deut.  i.  2). 

the  wilderness  of  Zin :  in  which  lay  Kadesh  (Deut.  xxxii.  51). 

2.  bay :  verse  5,  xviii.  19  ;  whereas  we  speak  of  a  *  tongue  *  of 
land,  the  Hebrews  spoke  of  a  *  tongue '  of  sea  (Isa.  xi.  15)  ;  the 
parallel  description  in  Num.  xxxiv.  3  says  simply  'from  the  end 
of  the  Salt  Sea.' 

3.  the  ascent  of  Akrabbim :  Num.  xxxiv.  4  ;  <  Scorpion  Pass,' 
one  of  the  passes  opening  from  the  Wady  el-Fikreh,  possibly 
that  opposite  the  prominent  Jebel  Madurah. 

4.  the  brook  of  Egypt :  xiii.  3  (note) ;  your :  read  'their'  (LXX). 

Z    2 


340  JOSHUA  15.  6-8.     P 

the  east  border  was  the  Salt  Sea,  even  unto  the  end  of 
Jordan.     And  the  border  of  the  north  quarter  was  from 

6  the  «-  bay  of  the  sea  at  the  end  of  Jordan :  and  the 
border  went  up  to  Beth-hoglah,  and  passed  along  by  the 
north  of    Beth-arabah  ;    and   the   border  went   up   to 

7  the  stone  of  Bohan  the  son  of  Reuben  :  and  the  border 
went  up  to  Debir  from  the  valley  of  Achor,  and  so 
northward,  looking  toward  Gilgal,  that  is  over  against 
the  ascent  of  Adummim,  which  is  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river  :  and  the  border  passed  along  to  the  waters 
of  En-shemesh,   and   the  goings   out  thereof  were  at 

8  En-rogel :  and  the  border  went  up  by  the  valley  of  the 
son  of  Hinnom  unto  the  ^  side  of  the  Jebusite  south- 
ward (the  same  is  Jerusalem)  :  and  the  border  went  up 

*  Heb.  tongue.  ^  Heb.  shoulder. 

5.  bay  :  here  that  of  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

6.  The  line  can  be  traced  by  means  of  the  names  selected  in 
the  summary  above,  all  of  which  will  be  found  in  any  large  map. 

the  stone  of  Bohan  :  xviii.   17  ;  unknown  both  as  regards 
name  and  site.     '  Bohen '   in   Hebrew  means   ^  thumb,'  and  the 
name  may  have  been  given  to  some  rock  or  hill  from  a  fancied 
resemblance — the  'Thumb  Rock.' 
*7.  the  valley  of  Achor :  vii.  24. 

Gilgal :  not,  of  course,  the  basal  camp  in  the  Jordan  Valley. 

ascent  of  Adummim:  xviii.  17  ;  probably  Tala'at  ed  Dumm 
(Ascent  of  Blood)  on  the  ordinary  road  from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem. 
'  Curious  red  streaks  appear  from  time  to  time  on  the  stone,  and 
perhaps  account  for  the  sanguinary  names  which  attach  to  the 
road'  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  265). 

8.  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom :  Heb.  ge  ben-Hinnom, 
or  (xviii.  16)  ge-Hinnom,  familiar  in  its  later  form,  Gehenna, 
through  associations  engendered  by  the  use  of  the  valley  for  the 
worship  of  Molech  (2  Kings  xxiii.  10)  ;  one  of  three  possible 
valleys  south  of  Jerusalem,  viz.  the  Wady  er-Rababi,  the  Tyro- 
poeon,  and  the  Kidron,  but  probably  the  first  {E.B.y  2423 ;  D.B.^ 

ii.  385f.). 

unto  the  side  of  the  Jebusite  southward:  south  of  the 
'shoulder'  on  which  Jerusalem  stands;  Jerusalem  itself  being 
within  the  territory  of  Benjamin  (xviii.  28). 


JOSHUA  15.  9-13.     P  341 

to  the  top  of  the  mountain  that  lieth  before  the  valley  of 
Hinnom  westward,  which  is  at  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
vale  of  Rephaim  northward :  and  the  border  was  drawn  9 
from  the  top  of  the  mountain  unto  the  fountain  of  the 
waters  of  Nephtoah,  and  went  out  to  the  cities  of  mount 
Ephron  ;  and  the  border  was  drawn  to  Baalah  (the  same 
is  Kiriath-jearim) :    and  the  border  turned  about  from  10 
Baalah  westward  unto  mount  Seir,   and  passed   along 
unto  the  side  of  mount  Jearim  on  the  north  (the  same  is 
Chesalon),  and  went  down  to  Beth-shemesh,  and  passed 
along  by  Timnah :   and  the  border  went  out  unto  the  1 1 
side  of  Ekron  northward :  and  the  border  was  drawn  to 
Shikkeron,  and  passed  along  to  mount  Baalah,  and  went 
out  at  Jabneel ;  and  the  goings  out  of  the  border  were 
at  the  sea.     And  the  west  border  was  to  the  great  sea,  12 
and   the   border   thereof.      This   is   the   border  of  the 
children    of   Judah    round    about    according    to    their 
families. 

And   unto   Caleb   the   son   of    Jephunneh   he    gave  13 
a  portion  among  the  children  of  Judah,  according  to  the 

9.  was  drawn :  '  inclined.' 

the  fountain  of  the  waters  of  Nephtoah :  xviii.  15  ;  in  its 
original  form,  probably  'the  fountain  of  Merneptah'  (Calici,  quoted 
by  Meyer,  Die  Israeliien,  p.  222). 

11.  Jabneel:  Yebna,  twelve  miles  south  from  Joppa,  and  four 
miles  from  the  Mediterranean.  Under  the  name  Jamnia  it  became 
famous  as  the  religious  centre  of  the  Jewish  race  in  the  period 
70-135  A.  D. 

12.  The  verse  should  read,  '  And  the  west  border  was  the  Great 
Sea  as  border ' :  cf.  xiii.  23. 

XV.  13-20.  Caleb  acquires  his  portion.  Verse  13  is  redactional, 
introducing  an  account  of  the  acquisition  of  the  territory  around 
Hebron  by  Caleb  (cf.  xiv.  6-15).  This  is  one  of  the  fragments 
of  J,  closely  related  to  the  first  chapter  of  Judges,  which  contains 
a  parallel  and  almost  verbally  identical  narrative  (Judges  i.  10-15). 
Verse  20  is  the  concluding  formula  of  P  to  the  whole  definition 
of  the  territory  of  Judah. 


342  JOSHUA  15.  14-19.     P  J 

commandment  of  the  Lord  to  Joshua,  even  «-  Kiriath- 
arba,   ivhich  Arba  was  the  father  of  Anak  (the  same 

14  is  Hebron).  [J]  And  Caleb  drove  out  thence  the  three 
sons  of  Anak,  Sheshai,  and  Ahiman,  and  Talmai,  the 

15  children  of  Anak.  And  he  went  up  thence  against  the 
inhabitants  of  Debir  :  now  the  name  of  Debir  beforetime 

16  was  Kiriath-sepher.  And  Caleb  said,  He  that  smiteth 
Kiriath-sepher,  and  taketh  itj  to  him  will  I  give  Achsah 

17  my  daughter  to  wife.  And  Othniel  the  son  of  Kenaz, 
the  brother  of  Caleb,  took  it :  and  he  gave  him  Achsah 

18  his  daughter  to  wife.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  she 
came  unto  htm,  that  she  moved  him  to  ask  of  her  father 
a  field  :   and  she  lighted  down  from  off  her  ass  ;  and 

19  Caleb  said  unto  her,  What  wouldest  thou?   And  she 

*  That  is,  the  city  of  Arba. 

13.  Xiriath-arba :  xiv.  15  (note). 

14.  Sheshai,  and  Ahiman,  and  Talmai :  Num.  xiii.  22  ;  Judges 
i,  10  (according  to  the  latter,  it  is  Judah  who  smites  them).  The 
names  suggest  Aramaean  origin  for  the  clans  in  question  ;  Sheshai 
may  be  the  Shasu  (Syrian  Bedouins)  of  the  Egyptians;  the  Talmai 
of  2  Sam.  iii.  3,  xiii.  37  is  the  Aramaean  king  of  Geshur  (cf. 
Gray,  Numbers,  p.  141  ;  Moore,  Judges,  p.  24). 

15.  Debir:  x,  38.  ,v    - 

Kiriath-sepher:  /iV.  (if  the  name  be  of  Hebrew  origin) 
'city  of  writing,'  but  no  inference  can  be  drawn  from  such  an 
etymology  as  to  the  literary  life  of  Canaan.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
some  (unknown)  Canaanite  word,  resembling  Sepher  in  sound, 
has  been  reproduced  in  a  form  familiar  to  Hebrew  ears ;  cf.  the 
English  modification  of  '  ecrevisse '  into  '  crayfish.' 

16.  For  the  idea  cf.  i  Sam.  xvii.  25  ;  i  Chron.  xi.  6. 
Achsah  must  be  taken  to  represent  a  Kenizzite  clan  con- 
nected  with    the    Othnielites   of    Debir,    and    the    Calebites    of 
Hebron. 

17.  Othniel:  called  (Judges  i.  13)  the  younger  brother  of 
Caleb  :  cf.  Judges  iii.  9-1 1. 

18.  19.  The  story  is  a  graceful  one,  and  may  well  rest  on  some 
personal  incident,  although  its  significance  in  the  present  con- 
text is  in  relation  to  clans.  Achsah,  when  she  comes  to  her 
future  husband  as  the  prize  of  battle,  incites  him  to  join  her  in 


JOSHUA  15.  20-32.     J  P  343 

said,  Give  me  a  **  blessing  ;  for  that  thou  hast  ^  set  me  in 
the  land  of  the  South,  give  me  also  springs  of  water. 
And  he  gave  her  the  upper  springs  and  the  nether 
springs. 

[P]  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  20 
of  Judah  according  to  their  families. 

And  the  uttermost  cities  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  2 1 
Judah  toward  the  border  of  Edom  in  the  South  were 
Kabzeel,  and  Eder,  and  Jagur;  and  Kinah,  and  Dimonah,  22 
and   Adadah ;  and   Kedesh,    and  Hazor,  and  Ithnan  ;  23 
Ziph,  and  Telem,  and  Bealoth ;   and    Hazor-hadattah,  24,  : 
and  Kerioth-hezron  (the  same  is  Hazor) ;   Amam,  and  a  6 
Shema,  and  Moladah  ;  and  Hazar-gaddah,  and  Heshmon,  27 
and  Beth-pelet;  and  Hazar-shual,  and  Beer-sheba,  and  28 
Biziothiah  ;  Baalah,  and  lim,  and  Ezem ;  and  Eltolad,  29,  ^ 
and  Chesil,  and  Hormah  ;  and  Ziklag,  and  Madmannah,  31 
and  Sansannah ;   and  Lebaoth,  and  Shilhim,  and  Ain,  32 
and  Rimmon  :  all  the  cities  are  twenty  and  nine,  with 
their  villages. 

*  Or,  present  *  Or,  given  me  the  land  of  the  South 

a  further  request.  She  descends  from  her  ass  to  show  respect  for 
her  father,  as  did  Abigail  on  meeting  David  (i  Sam.  xxv.  23). 
The  'present'  (R.  V.marg. :  cf.  Gen.  xxxiii.  ri  ;  i  Sam.  xxv.  27, 
XXX.  26  ;  2  Kings  v.  15),  for  which  she  asks,  consists  of  certain 
water- rights,  of  consequence  because  the  '  South '  is  the  dry  or 
parched  land.  *  Property  in  water  is  older  and  more  important 
than  property  in  land'  {Rel.  Sent.,  p.  104).  The  springs  in 
question  may  be  those  of  a  particularly  well-watered  valley  (Seil 
ed-Dilbeh)  found  between  Hebron  and  Debir. 

XV.  21-63.  Catalogueof  cities  belonging  to  Judah.  This  catalogue 
falls  into  four  topographical  divisions,  viz.  the  Negeb  or  *  South ' 
(verses  21-32),  the  Shephelah  or  '  lowland '  (verses  33-47),  the 

*  hill-country '  (verses  48-60),  and  the  '  wilderness  '  inverses  61-62). 
An  appended  note  states  the  inabilitj'  of  Judah  to  expel  the 
Jebusites  from  Jerusalem  (verse  63\ 

28.  Biziothiali :  we  should,  perhaps,  read,  with  slight  change, 

*  her  daughters '  (verse  45,  Neh.  xi.  28). 


344  JOSHUA   15.  33-54-     P 

33,  34      In  the  lowland,  Eshtaol,  and  Zorah,  and  Ashnah ;  and 

35  Zanoah,  and  En-gannim,  Tappuah,  and  Enam  ;  Jarmuth, 

36  and  Adullam,  Socoh,  and  Azekah ;  and  Shaaraim,  and 
Adithaim,  and  Gederah,  and  Gederothaim ;  fourteen 
cities  with  their  villages. 

37,  38      Zenan,  and  Hadashah,  and  Migdal-gad;  and  Dilan, 

39  and  Mizpeh,  and  Joktheel ;  Lachish,  and  Bozkath,  and 

40  Eglon  ;   and  Cabbon,  and   ^  Lahmam,   and   Chithlish ; 

41  and  Gederoth,  Beth-dagon,  and  Naamah,  and  Makkedah; 
sixteen  cities  with  their  villages. 

43,43      Libnah,    and   Ether,  and   Ashan;   and    Iphtah,   and 
44  Ashnah,   and   Nezib  ;    and   Keilah,   and   Achzib,    and 

Mareshah  ;  nine  cities  with  their  villages. 
45>  46      Ekron,  with  her  ^  towns  and  her  villages  :  from  Ekron 

even  unto  the  sea,  all  that  were  by  the  side  of  Ashdod, 

with  their  villages. 

47  Ashdod,  her  towns  and  her  villages ;  Gaza,  her  towns 
and  her  villages ;  unto  the  brook  of  Egypt,  and  the  great 
sea,  and  the  border  thereof. 

48  And   in   the   hill   country,    Shamir,   and   Jattir,   and 

49  Socoh  ;   and  Dannah,  and  Kiriath-sannah  (the  same  is 
5O1  5^  Debir) ;   and  Anab,  and  Eshtemoh,   and   Anim  ;    and 

Goshen,  and  Holon,  and  Giloh  ;  eleven  cities  with  their 
villages. 
52,  53      Arab,  and  Dumah,  and  Eshan;  and  Janim,  and  Beth- 
54  tappuah,  and  Aphekah  ;  and  Humtah,  and  Kiriath-arba 
*  Or,  Lahmas  ^  Heb.  daughters. 

32.  twenty  and  nine:  thirty-six  are  actually  given;  seven, 
therefore,  have  been  added  subsequently,  possibly  in  verses  26-8 
(cf.  Neh.  xi.  26,  27)  ;  LXX  unites  Ain  and  Rimmon  as  one  city. 

36.  fonrteen:  fifteen  are  actually  given  :  Adithaim  is  omitted 
by  LXX. 

47.  and  the  1)or4er  thereof:  should  be,  as  in  xiii.  23,  'as  the 
border.' 


JOSHUA  15.  55—16.  I.    P  J  JE  345 

(the  same  is  Hebron),  and  Zior ;  nine  cities  with  their 
villages. 

Maon,  Carmel,  and  Ziph,  and  Jutah ;  and  Jezreel,  and  55, 
Jokdeam,  and   Zanoah ;   Kain,   Gibeah,  and   Timnah ;  57 
ten  cities  with  their  villages. 

Halhul,  Beth-zur,  and  Gedor  ;  and  Maarath,  and  58, 
Beth-anoth,  and  Eltekon ;  six  cities  with  their  villages. 

Kiriath-baal  (the  same  is  Kiriath-jearim),  and  Rabbah;  60 
two  cities  with  their  villages. 

In  the  wilderness,  Beth-arabah,  Middin,  and  Secacah;  61 
and  Nibshan,  and  the  City  of  Salt,  and  En-gedi ;  six  62 
cities  with  their  villages. 

[J]    And   as   for   the   Jebusites,    the   inhabitants   of  63 
Jerusalem,  the  children  of  Judah  could  not  drive  them 
out :  but  the  Jebusites  dwelt  with  the  children  of  Judah 
at  Jerusalem,  unto  this  day. 

[JE]  And  the  lot  for  the  children  of  Joseph  went  out  16 


59.  After  this  verse  add  with  LXX,  '  Tekoa,  Ephratha,  that  is 
Bethlehem,  Peor,  Etam,  Kolon,  Tatam,  Sores,  Kerem,  Gallim, 
Bether,  Manahath,  eleven  cities  and  their  villages.'  -    ,  ,  , 

63.  Another  fragment  of  J  =  Judges  i.  21  (except  that  'Judah 
is  replaced  by  'Benjamin,'  and  'could  not*  by  'did  not,'  the 
present  being  the  more  original  form  of  the  verse).  According 
to  verse  8  and  xviii.  28,  Jerusalem  belongs  to  Benjamin,  and  the 
redactor  of  Judges  i  has  corrected  J  accordingly.  For  the  con- 
quest of  Jerusalem  by  David  (of  Judah),  see  2  Sam.  v.  6  f.  (cf. 
2  Sam.  xxiv.  18). 

xvi,  xvii.  The  Inheritance  of  Joseph :  definition  of  south  border 
by  a  line  drawn  from  Jericho  through  Bethel,  the  lower  Beth- 
horon,  and  Gezer  (xvi.  1-3).  Inheritance  of  Ephraim,  as  one  of 
the  sons  of  Joseph  (xvi.  4) ;  definition  of  territory  (xvi.  5-8) ; 
which  includes  some  cities  in  Manasseh  (xvi.  9),  and  excludes 
Gezer  (xvi.  10).  Inheritance  of  Manasseh  (xvii.  i)  ;  divisions  of 
the  tribe,  male  (xvii.  2),  and  female  (xvii.  3)  ;  claim  of  the  latter 
to  inherit  (xvii.  4).  Territory  of  Manasseh  (xvii.  5-6),  and  its 
borders   (xvii.   7-10).     Canaanite   cities   not   dispossessed   (xvii. 


34^  JOSHUA  16.  2,  3.     JE 

from  the  Jordan  at  Jericho,  at  the  waters  of  Jericho  on 
the  east,  even  the  wilderness,  going  up  from  Jericho 

2  through  the  hill  country  to  Beth-el ;   and  it  went  out 
from  Beth-el  to  Luz,  and  passed  along  unto  the  border 

3  of  the  Archites  to  Ataroth  ;  and  it  went  down  westward 

1 1 -13).     The  claim  of  the  Josephites  for  a  larger  share  (xvii. 
14-18). 

There  is  a  marked  contrast  between  the  precise  details  in  regard 

to  Judah,  and  the  briefer  and  more  generalized  statements  of  these 

}  chapters  in  regard  to  the  Josephite  territory;  it  is  probably  due 

]  to  the  fact  that  when  this  book  was  compiled  the  Northern  King- 

i  dom  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  its  territory  was  no  longer  in  Jewish 

hands. 

The  territory  of  Joseph  is  the  middle  part  of  the  country  west 
of  Jordan,  bounded  by  Benjamin  (xviii.  11  f.)  and  Dan  (xix.  40  f.) 
on  the  south,  and  by  Issachar  (xix.  17  f.)  and  Asher  (xix.  24  f.)  on 
the  north.  Its  central  feature  is  *  the  hill-country  of  Ephraim ' 
(xvii.  15  ;  on  the  extension  of  this  name  to  the  whole  territory, 
see  H.G.H.L.,  p.  325),  in  which  the  central  range  of  Judah  is 
continued.  On  the  west  this  descends  to  the  Plain  of  Sharon, 
with  many  points  of  easy  access  ;  on  the  east  it  overhangs  the 
Jordan  Valley,  being  steep  and  inaccessible  in  the  southern  half, 
but  with  broad  valleys  opening  up  into  the  interior  in  the  northern 
half  (op.  cit.,  326).  For  the  boundary  between  Judah  (Benjamin, 
and  Israel,  see  H.G.H.L.^  chap,  xii  ('Judaea  and  Samaria — The 
History  of  their  Frontier'),  where  the  reasons  for  its  shifting 
character  are  given. 

1.  the  lot . . .  went  out:  read,  with  LXX,  *  the  border. . .  was.' 
(The  Hebrew  text,  if  retained,  will  refer  to  the  lot  falling  from 
the  receptacle  in  which  it  was  shaken  :  cf.  xviii.  11,  &c.) 

the  waters  of  Jericho :  probably  'Ain  es-Sultan,  a  little 
north-west  of  the  present  Riha. 

This  verse  is  as  clumsy  in  Hebrew  as  it  is  in  English,  and  is 
possibly  corrupt,  but  the  general  meaning  is  that  the  boundary 
runs  from  Jericho  to  Bethel  (leaving  room  for  Benjamin,  xviii.  12  f, 
between  it  and  the  north  border  of  Judah,  xv.  5*'f.). 

2.  Beth-el  to  Luz :  cf.  Gen.  xxviii.  19,  where  the  sanctuary  of 
Bethel  and  the  city  of  Luz  are  brought  into  close  connexion. 
Luz  may  be  an  addition  here  (cf.  LXX),  as  the  earlier  name 
of  the  place  called  Bethel  (House  of  God)  on  account  of  its 
sanctuary. 

Archites:  cf.  2  Sam.  xv.  32  (Hushai  the  Archite") ;  possibly 
the  inhabitants  of  the  place  now  represented  by  'Ain  'Arik,  west 
of  Bethel. 


JOSHUA  16.  4-9.  JE  P  JE?  347 

to   the   border  of  the  Japhletites,  unto  the  border  of 
Beth-horon  the  nether,  even  unto  Gezer :  and  the  goings 
out  thereof  were  at  the  sea.     [P]  And  the  children  of  4 
Joseph,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim,  took  their  inheritance. 
And  the  border  of  the  children  of  Ephraim  according  to  5 
their    families   was    thus  :    even    the    border    of   their 
inheritance  eastward  was  Ataroth-addar,  unto  Beth-horon 
the    upper  ;    and    the    border    went    out   westward   at  6 
Michmethath   on   the   north ;    and   the   border   turned 
about  eastward  unto  Taanath-shiloh,  and  passed  along  it 
on  the  east  of  Janoah ;  and  it  went  down  from  Janoah  7 
to  Ataroth,  and  to  Naarah,  and  reached  unto  Jericho, 
and  went  out  at   Jordan.     From  Tappuah  the  border  8 
went  along  westward  to  the  brook  of  Kanah ;  and  the 
goings  out  thereof  were  at  the  sea.     This  is  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Ephraim  according 
to  their  families;  [JE?]  together  with  the  cities  which  9 
were  separated  for  the  children  of  Ephraim  in  the  midst 

3.  Japhletites :  quite  unknown,  and  not  elsewhere  mentioned. 

4.  the  children  of  Joseph:  Gen.  xlviii.  20,  where  Ephraim 
is  made  to  take  the  place  of  Manasseh  the  firstborn ;  P,  how- 
ever, here  recognizes  the  primogeniture  of  Manasseh,  though  the 
redactor  has  placed  the  description  of  Ephraimite  territory  first. 

5.  The  Hebrew  is  confused  ;  the  definition  of  the  border  seems 
to  have  been  condensed,  in  view  of  verses  1-3.  Thus,  only  the 
east  half  of  the  south  border  is  repeated. 

Ataroth-addar:    (  =  Ataroth,  verse  2)  may  be  Atara,  three 
and  a  half  miles  south  of  Bethel,  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem. 
Beth-horon :  see  on  x.  10. 

6-8.  With  Michmethath  (east  of  Shechem,  xvii.  7)  begins  the 
north  border,  with  Taanath-Shiloh,  the  east,  which  falls  along  the 
edge  of  the  Jordan  Valley  down  to  Jericho  (verse  7) ;  while  the 
western  part  of  the  north  border  (verse  8)  runs  from  Tappuah  to 
the  brook  of  Kanah  (xvii.  9)  ;  i,  e.  probably  the  Wady  Kanah, 
south-west  of  Shechem,  a  tributary  of  the  *  Auja,  which  falls  into 
the  Mediterranean  above  Joppa. 

9.  Cf.  xvii.  8,  where  Tappuah  is  named  as  one  of  these  extra- 
territorial Ephraimite  cities. 


348       JOSHUA  16.  lo— 17.  2.     JE  ?  J  P  JE  ? 

of  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Manasseh,  all  the 

10  cities  with  their  villages.     [J]  And  they  drave  not  out 

the  Canaanites  that  dwelt  in  Gezer  :  but  the  Canaan ites 

dwelt  in  the   midst   of  Ephraim,    unto   this  day,   and 

became  servants  to  do  taskwork. 

17       [P]  And  this  was  the  lot  for  the  tribe  of  Manasseh ; 

for  he   was   the   firstborn   of  Joseph.      [JE?]    As   for 

Machir  the  firstborn  of  Manasseh,  the  father  of  Gilead, 

because  he  was  a  man  of  war,  therefore  he  had  Gilead 

2  and   Bashan.      And   the  lot  was   for  the  rest   of   the 

children  of  Manasseh  according  to  their  families;   for 

the  children  of  Abiezer,  and  for  the  children  of  Helek, 

10.  This  verse  belongs  to  the  chain  of  J  passages  (cf.  xv.  63), 
and  is  repeated  (to  '  Ephraim ')  in  Judges  i.  29.  Gezer  (cf.  verse 
3)  retained  its  Canaanite  population  until  the  time  of  Solomon, 
when  it  came  into  his  possession  as  the  dowry  of  his  wife, 
Pharaoh's  daughter  (cf.  i  Kings  ix.  16). 

became  servants  to  do  taskwork:  xvii.  13;  Gen.  xlix.  15; 
I  Kings  ix.  21 ;  lit.  '  were  for  a  working  labour-gang.' 

xvii.  1-6.    The  Tribal  Divisions  of  Manasseh. 

this  was  the  lot  for :  Heb.  *  and  the  lot  was  (drawn)  for ' 
(as  in  verse  2). 

for  he  was  the  firstborn  of  Joseph :  a  reason  for  the  place 
of  Manasseh  before  Ephraim  in  P*s  account  of  the  division  of  the 
land  ;  the  redactor  has,  however,  reversed  this  order  (cf.  xvi.  5  f.) 
in  our  present  text. 

Machir :  Num.  xxvi.  29 ;  where,  however,  he  is  represented 
as  the  only  son  of  Manasseh  (cf.  Gen.  1.  23),  whilst  the  six  clans 
named  here  (verse  2)  as  children  of  Manasseh  are  there  the  sons 
of  Gilead  (the  son  of  Machir).  That  implies  the  view  that  the 
western  half  of  Manasseh  is  of  later  origin  than  the  eastern  half. 
The  direct  opposite  is  more  probable.  '  In  later  times  the  seats  of 
Machir  were  in  Gilead  ;  but  there  is  good  ground  for  the  opinion 
that  the  conquest  of  this  region  was  made,  not  in  the  first  invasion 
of  the  lands  east  of  the  Jordan  b}'  Israel,  but  subsequently,  by 
a  reflux  movement  from  Western  Palestine '  (Moore  on  Judges 
V.  14,  where  Machir  is  named  amongst  western  clans).  On  the 
various  Biblical  theories  of  Manassite  clans  (cf.  1  Chron.  ii.  21  f., 
vii.  14  f.\  see  Driver  in  D.B.^  iii.  230  f. 

therefore  he  had  Gilead  and  Bashan :  these  being  speciall}'^ 
open  to  attack  from  the  east.  , 


JOSHUA  17.  3-7.     JE?P  349 

and  for  the  children  of  Asriel,  and  for  the  children  of 
Shechem,  and  for  the  children  of  Hepher,  and  for  the 
children  of  Shemida  :  these  were  the  male  children  of 
Manasseh  the  son  of  Joseph  according  to  their  families. 
[Pj   But  Zelophehad,   the  son  of  Hepher,  the   son   of  3 
Gilead,  the  son  of  Machir,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  had  no 
sons,  but  daughters :    and  these  are  the  names  of  his 
daughters,   Mahlah,    and   Noah,    Hoglah,    Milcah,   and 
Tirzah.     And  they  came  near  before  Eleazar  the  priest,  4 
and   before  Joshua   the   son   of  Nun,  and  before  the 
princes,  saying,  The  Lord  commanded  Moses  to  give  us 
an  inheritance  among  our  brethren  :  therefore  according 
to  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  he  gave  them  an 
inheritance  among  the  brethren  of  their  father.     And  5 
there  fell  ten  » parts  to  Manasseh,  beside  the  land  of 
Gilead  and  Bashan,  which  is  beyozid  Jordan ;  because  6 
the  daughters  of  Manasseh  had  an  inheritance  among 
4iis  sons  :  and  the  land  of  Gilead  belonged  unto  the  rest 
of  the  sons  of  Manasseh.     And  the  border  of  Manasseh  7 

*  Heb.  lines. 

3.  Zelophehad:  Num.  xxvi.  33,  xxvii.  i  f.  (cf.  xxxvi.  10).  Note 
that  Hepher  is  here  the  son  of  Gilead,  whilst  in  verse  2  he  is 
son  of  Manasseh,  therefore  brother  to  Machir  (verse  i),  and  uncle 
to  Gilead. 

4.  an  inheritance  among  our  brethren :  the  appeal  is  based 
on  the  judgement  of  Yahweh  recorded  in  Num.  xxvii.  7,  Hebrev/ 
law  before  the  Exile  recognized  sons  only  as  heirs  .Deut.  xxi.  15  f., 
XXV.  5-10). 

5.  ten  parts:  according  to  Num.  xxvii.  7,  they  are  to 
receive  the  inheritance  of  their  father  only,  divided  amongst  the 
five.  Here  each  receives  a  share  equal  to  that  of  each  of  the 
clans  in  verse  2  ^^five  without  Hepher). 

xvii.  7-10.  The  Territory  of  Manasseh.  This  is  defined  as 
extending  from  Asher  in  the  north,  and  Issachar  in  the  east  (verse 
10),  to  the  Wady  Xanah  (xvi.  8)  in  the  south,  the  rest  of  the 
south  border  being  defined  by  a  line  drawn  through  En  Tappuah 
(xvi.  8),  and  north  by  Michmethah  (east  of  Shechem). 

7.  Asher :    not  the  territory  of  Asher  (verse  10)  ;   it  is  sup- 


350         JOSHUA  17.  8-u.     P  JE?  P  JE?  P  J 

was  from  Asher  to  Michmethath,  which  is  before 
Shechem ;    and    the   border   went  along   to   the   right 

8  hand,  unto  the  inhabitants  of  En-tappuah.  [JE  ?]  The 
land  of  Tappuah  belonged  to  Manasseh  :  but  Tappuah 
on  the  border  of  Manasseh  belonged  to  the  children  of 

9  Ephraim.  [P]  And  the  border  went  down  unto  the 
brook  of  Kanah,  southward  of  the  brook :  [ JE  ?]  these 
cities  belonged  to  Ephraim  among  the  cities  of  Manasseh  : 
[P]  and  the  border  of  Manasseh  was  on  the  north  side 
of  the  brook,  and  the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  the  sea : 

[0  southward  it  was  Ephraim's,  and  northward  it  was 
Manasseh's,  and  the  sea  was  his  border ;  and  they 
reached  to  Asher  on  the  north,  and  to  Issachar  on  the 

[I  east.  [J]  And  Manasseh  had  in  Issachar  and  in  Asher 
Beth-shean  and  her  » towns,  and  Ibleam  and  her  towns, 
■  Heb.  daughters. 

posed  to  be  the  village  Tejasir,  rather  more  than  half-way  on  the 
road  from  Shechem  to  Scythopolis.  The  text  is,  however, 
doubtful. 

before :  to  the  rig'ht  hand :  Hebrew  terms  for  east  and  south 
respectively  (see  on  xiii.  3). 

9.  these  cities  helong^ed  to  Ephraim  among'  the  cities  of 
Manasseh :  a  fragment  which  is  meaningless  in  its  present  con- 
nexion :  cf.  xvi.  9.  The  rest  of  the  verse  describes  the  south 
border  as  intersecting  the  Wady  Kanah  on  its  south  bank,  and 
continuing  along  its  north  bank  to  the  sea. 

"^1,0.  Manasseh  is  contiguous  with  Ephraim  (xvi.  8)  on  the 
south,  with  Asher  on  the  north,  with  Issachar  on  the  east. 

xvii.  11-13.  Manassite  cities  unconquered.  A  fragment  of  J, 
practically  identical  with  Judges  i.  27,  28,  except  for  the  assertion 
that  these  cities  were  extra-territorial  possessions  of  Manasseh,  It 
is  possible  that  the  latter  rests  on  the  displacement  of  the  words 
'  even  the  three  heights.  Yet  the  children  of  Manasseh  could  not 
drive  out '  from  after  '  Asher '  (verse  11)  to  the  end  of  the  verse  (so 
Dilimann,  followed  by  Bennett ;  *  those  cities '  (verse  12)  is  then 
regarded  as  an  addition  made  necessary  by  the  displacement). 

11.  Beth-shean  .  .  .  MeGfiddo:  these  Canaanite  settlements 
form  •  a  chain  of  fortified  cities  guarding  all  thejpasses '  from  the 


JOSHUA  17.  12-15.     J  351 

and  the  inhabitants  of  Dor  and  her  towns,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  En-dor  and  her  towns,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Taanach  and  her  towns,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
Megiddo  and  her  towns,  even  the  three  ^  heights.  Yet  1 2 
the  children  of  Manasseh  could  not  drive  out  f/ie  in- 
habitants of  those  cities ;  but  the  Canaanites  would 
dwell  in  that  land.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  13 
children  of  Israel  were  waxen  strong,  that  they  put 
the  Canaanites  to  taskwork,  and  did  not  utterly  drive 
them  out. 

And  the  children  of  Joseph  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying,  14 
Why  hast  thou  given  me  but  one  lot  and  one  ^  part  for 
an  inhe^-itance,  seeing  I  am  a  great  people,  forasmuch  as 
hitherto  the  Lord  hath  blessed  me?  And  Joshua  said  «5 
unto  them,  If  thou  be  a  great  people,  get  thee  up  to  the 
forest,  and  cut  down  for  thyself  there  in  the  land  of  the 
Perizzites  and  of  the  Rephaim ;  since  the  hill  country  of 
*  See.  ch.  xi.  2,  xii.  23.  ^  Heb.  line, 

mountains  of  Ephraim  northwards.  'At  the  eastern  end  of  this 
cordon  was  Beth-shean,  on  the  main  road  to  Damascus ;  at  the 
western  extremity,  Megiddo,  on  the  road  up  from  the  coast, 
commanding  thus  the  great  commercial  and  military  road  between 
Egypt  and  the  East'  (Moore,  Judges,  p.  43).     See  the  map. 

the  three  heights :  R.  V.  marg.  suggests  that  *  the  heights  of 
Dor'  (xi.  2,  note)  are  meant,  but  the  meaning  of  the  words  is 
unknown. 

12.  wotad  dwell:  rather,  'persisted  in  dwelling.* 

13.  taslcwork :  see  on  xvi.  10. 

xvii.  14-18,  The  Josephites  demand  a  larger  inheritance. 
Another  J  fragment,  probably  belonging  to  the  time  when 
Manasseh  overflowed  from  its  western  to  its  eastern  territory  (see 
on  verse  i  :  cf.  Num.  xxxii.  39-41). 

15.  forest  could  be  some  part  of  the  territory  described  above ; 
it  should,  however,  be  noted  that  2  Sam.  xviii.  6  speaks  of  a 
'forest  of  Ephraim,'  east  of  Jordan,  and  probably  the  'forest'  of 
Gilead  (cf.  Num.  xxxii.  39)  was  in  view  in  the  original  meaning 
of  this  passage. 

Perizzites  :  Deut.  vii.  i. 


352  JOSHUA  17.  i6-~18.  i.     JP 

i6  Ephraim  is  too  narrow  for  thee.  And  the  children  of 
Joseph  said,  The  hill  country  *  is  not  enough  for  us  : 
and  all  the  Canaanites  that  dwell  in  the  land  of  the 
valley  have  chariots  of  iron,  both  they  who  are  in  Beth- 
shean  and  her  towns,  and  they  who  are  in  the  valley  of 

17  Jezreel.  And  Joshua  spake  unto  the  house  of  Joseph, 
even  to  Ephraim  and  to  Manasseh,  saying.  Thou  art 
a  great  people,  and  hast  great  power:   thou  shalt  not 

18  have  one  lot  only;  but  the  hill  country  shall  be  thine; 
for  though  it  is  a  forest,  thou  shalt  cut  it  down,  and  the 
goings  out  thereof  shall  be  thine  :  for  thou  shalt  drive 
out  the  Canaanites,  though  they  have  chariots  of  iron, 
and  though  they  be  strong. 

18  [P]  And  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children  of 
Israel  assembled  themselves  together  at  Shiloh,  and  set 

*  Heb.  is  not  found /oy  us. 

Bephaim :  according  to  Deut.  iii.  13,  Bashan  was  known  as 
'  the  land  of  Rephaim.'  . 

16.  chariots  of  iron :  see  on  xi.  4  ;  specially  strong  chariots 
for  warfare,  plated  with  iron,  are  meant.  The  moral  effect  of 
these  (to  Israel)  novel  instruments  of  warfare  may  be  compared 
with  that  of  the  elephants  of  Pyrrhus  on  the  Romans  (Budde  on 
Judges  i.  iq).  .        .  i 

18.  the  hill  country:  i.  e.  that  of  Gilead,  on  the  view  taken 
above. 

xviii.  I- 10.  Preparation  for  the  division  of  the  land  (verse  i). 
Seven  tribes  have  yet  to  receive  their  inheritance  (verse  2;.  A 
commission  of  three  from  each  tribe  is  appointed  to  divide  the 
remaining  land  into  seven  parts  (verses  3-5'),  Judah,  Joseph, 
Levi,  Gad,  Reuben,  and  half  Manasseh  having  already  been  pro- 
vided for  (verses  5^-7).  After  a  systematic  survey,  the  commission 
divides  the  land  into  seven  portions,  which  Joshua  assigns  by  the 
sacred  lot  at  Shiloh  ('verses  8-10).  . 

1.  Apparently  part  of  an  introduction  to  the  division  of  the 
whole  land  west  of  Jordan  (see  note  on  xiv.  i). 

Shiloh :  (Judges  xxi.  19)  i.  e.  of  Seilun,  about  twelve  miles 
south  of  Shechem.  Here  an  annual  feast  was  held  (Judges  xxi. 
19  f.),  and  the  ark  was  kept  by  Eli  in  a  sanctuary  (i  Sam.  iii.  %  15  : 
cf.  Judges  xviii.  31).    Shiloh  does  not  appear  in  history  after  i  Sam. 


JOSHUA  18.  2-n.     P  JE  R^  JE  353 

up  the  tent  of  meeting  there  :  and  the  land  was  subdued 
before  them.     [JE]  And  there  remained  among  the  chil-  2 
dren  of  Israel  seven  tribes,  which  had  not  yet  divided 
their  inheritance.     And  Joshua  said  unto  the  children  of  3 
Israel,  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  go  in  to  possess  the 
land,  which  the  Lord,  the  God  of  your  fathers,  hath 
given  you  ?     Appoint  for  you  three  men  for  each  tribe :  4 
and  I  will  send  them,  and  they  shall  arise,  and   walk 
through  the  land,  and   describe   it   according   to  their 
inheritance  ;  and  they  shall  come  unto  me.     And  they  5 
shall  divide  it  into  seven  portions :  Judah  shall  abide  in 
his  border  on  the  south,  and  the  house  of  Joseph  shall 
abide  in  their  border  on  the  north.     And  ye  shall  de-  6 
scribe  the  land  into  seven  portions,  and  bring  fAe  descrip- 
tion hither  to  me  ;  and  I  will  cast  lots  for  you  here  before 
the  Lord  our  God.     [R°]   For   the   Levites   have  no  7 
portion  among  you  ;    for  the  priesthood  of  the   Lord 
is  their  inheritance  :  and  Gad  and  Reuben  and  the  half 
tribe  of  Manasseh  have  received  their  inheritance  beyond 
Jordan  eastward,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
gave  them.     [JE]  And  the  men  arose,  and  went :  and  8 
Joshua  charged  them  that  went  to  describe  the  land, 
saying,  Go  and  walk  through  the  land,  and  describe  it,  and 


i-iv,  and  is  thought  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  Philistines  (cf. 
Jer.  vii.  12  ;  Ps.  Ixxviii.  60). 

3.  slack  :  i.  e.  as  contrasted  with  Judah  and  Joseph  (verse  5), 
who  have  taken  possession  of  their  inheritance. 

4.  describe  :  i.  e.  in  the  literal  sense  '  write  down  '  the  cities 
(verse  9),  in  order  that  an  equitable  division  may  be  made  on  the 
forthcoming  data.  We  have  no  evidence  as  to  the  date  at  which 
the  art  of  writing  began  to  be  practised  by  Israel. 

6.  cast  lots :  see  on  vii.  14. 

7.  The  verse  is  an  editorial  note,  explaining  why  seven  portions 
only  are  wanted  :  cf.  xiii.  14,  xiv.  3  1. 

the  priesthood  of  Yahweh  :  Deut.  x.  8,  xviii.  i  f. 

A  a 


354  JOSHUA  18.  9-14.     JE  P 

come  again  to  me,  and  I  will  cast  lots  for  you  here  before 

9  the  Lord  in  Shiloh.     And   the  men  went  and  passed 

through  the  land,  and  described  it  by  cities  into  seven 

portions  in  a  book,  and  they  came  to  Joshua  unto  the 

I  o  camp  at  Shiloh.     And  Joshua  cast  lots  for  them  in  Shiloh 

before  the  Lord  :   and  there  Joshua  divided  the  land 
unto  the  children  of  Israel  according  to  their  divisions. 

I I  [P]  And  the  lot  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Benjamin 
came  up  according  to  their  families  :  and  the  border  of 
their  lot  went  out  between  the  children  of  Judah  and  the 

12  children  of  Joseph.  And  their  border  on  the  north 
quarter  was  from  Jordan ;  and  the  border  went  up  to 
the  ^  side  of  Jericho  on  the  north,  and  went  up  through 
the  hill  country  westward;  and  the  goings  out  thereof 

13  were  at  the  wilderness  of  Beth-aven.  And  the  border 
passed  along  from  thence  to  Luz,  to  the  ^side  of  Luz 
(the  same  is  Beth-el),  southward ;  and  the  border  went 
down  to  Ataroth-addar,  by  the  mountain  that  lieth  on 

14  the  south  of  Beth-horon  the  nether.  And  the  border 
was  drawn  and  turned  about  on  the  west  quarter  south- 

*  Heb.  shoulder. 


10.  according'  to  their  divisions  :  (xi.  23,  xii.  7)  i.  e.  those 
given  in  order  in  xviii.  11— xix.  51  (Benjamin,  Simeon,  Zebulun, 
Issachar,  Asher,  Naphtali,  and  Dan). 

xviii.  11-28.   The  Inheritance  of  Benjamin. 

11.  came  up:  literally;  or,  as  we  should  say,  'was  drawn' 
(in  Lev.  xvi.  9  the  same  Hebrew  word  is  rendered  '  fell'). 

the  border  .  .  .  went  out :   '  the  territory  .  .  .  lay.' 

12.  13.  The  north  border  (contiguous  with  the  south  border  of 
Joseph,  xvi.  1-4  q.  v.)  is  described  from  east  to  west. 

Beth-aven :  somewhere  east  of  Bethel,  near  Ai  (vii.  2)  and 
west  of  Michmash  (i  Sam.  xiii.  5,  xiv.  2^. 

14.  The  west  border,  from  Beth-horon  in  the  north  to  Kiriath- 
jearim  in  the  south  (cf.  ix.  17,  where  the  latter  is  one  of  the  cities 
in  the  league  of  Gibeon,  and  xv.  60,  where  it  is  included  in  the 
territory  of  Judah). 


JOSHUA  18.  15-20.     P  355 

ward,  from  the  mountain  that  lieth  before  Beth-horon 
southward ;  and  the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  Kiriath- 
baal  (the  same  is  Kiriath-jearim),  a  city  of  the  children 
of  Judah :  this  was  the  west  quarter.     And   the   south  15 
quarter  was  from  the  uttermost  part  of  Kiriath-jearim, 
and  the  border  went  out  westward,  and  went  out  to  the 
fountain  of  the  waters  of  Nephtoah  :    and   the   border  16 
went  down  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  mountain  that 
lieth  before  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  which  is  in 
the  vale  of  Rephaim  northward ;  and  it  went  down  to  the 
valley  of  Hinnom,  to  the  side  of  the  Jebusite  southward, 
and  went  down  to  En-rogel ;   and  it  was  drawn  on  the  17 
north,  and  went  out  at  En-shemesh,  and  went  out  to 
Geliloth,  which  is  over  against  the  ascent  of  Adummim ; 
and  it  went  down  to  the  stone  of  Bohan  the   son  of 
Reuben ;  and  it  passed  along  to  the  side  over  against  18 
the  Arabah  northward,  and  went  down  unto  the  Arabah : 
and  the  border  passed  along  to  the  side  of  Beth-hoglah  19 
northward  :  and  the  goings  out  of  the  border  were  at  the 
north  ^  bay  of  the  Salt  Sea,  at  the  south  end  of  Jordan : 
this  was  the  south  border.     And  Jordan  was  the  border  20 
of  it  on  the  east  quarter.     This  was  the  inheritance  of 
the  children  of  Benjamin,  by  the  borders  thereof  round 
*  Heb.  tongue. 

xviii.  15-19.  The  south  border,  described  from  west  to  east 
'contiguous  with  the  north  border  of  Judah,  xv.  5-9  q.  v.),  from 
Kiriath-jearim  to  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

15.  the  border  went  out  westward :  what  is  apparently 
meant  is  that  it  started  from  this  (most)  westward  point  to  go 
eastward. 

20.  The  east  border. 

xviii.  21-28.  Catalogue  of  the  cities  of  Benjamin  ;  twelve  in  the 
east  (verses  21-4)  and  fourteen  in  the  west  (verses  25-8),  the 
line  of  division  between  the  two  groups  being  that  of  the  water- 
shed, marked  roughly  by  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Shechem. 

Aa  2 


3S6  JOSHUA  18.  ai— 19.  8.    P 

21  about,  according  to  their  families.     Now  the  cities  of  the 

tribe  of  the  children  of  Benjamin   according   to   their 

families  were  Jericho,  and  Beth-hoglah,  and  Emek-keziz ; 

2,  23  and    Beth-arabah,    and    Zemaraim,   and   Beth-el ;    and 

24  Avvim,  and  Parah,  and  Ophrah ;  and  Chephar-ammoni, 

and  Ophni,  and  Geba  ;  twelve  cities  with  their  villages : 

5>  26  Gibeon,  and  Raraah,  and  Beeroth ;   and  Mizpeh,  and 

27  Chephirah,  and  Mozah  ;    and  Rekem,  and  Irpeel,  and 

28  Taralah  ;  and  Zelah,  Eleph,  and  the  Jebusite  (the  same 
is  Jerusalem),  Gibeath,  and  Kiriath  ;  fourteen  cities  with 
their  villages.  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of 
Benjamin  according  to  their  families. 

19  And  the  second  lot  came  out  for  Simeon,  even  for  the 
tribe  of  the  children  of  Simeon  according  to  their  families  : 
and  their  inheritance  was  in  the  midst  of  the  inheritance 

2  of  the  children  of  Judah.     And  they  had  for  their  inherit- 

3  ance  Beer-sheba,  or  Sheba,  and  Moladah ;  and  Hazar- 

4  shual,  and  Balah,  and  Ezem ;  and  Eltolad,  and  Bethul, 

5  arid   Hormah;    and   Ziklag,   and   Beth-marcaboth,  and 

6  Hazar-susah ;  and  Beth-lebaoth,  and  Sharuhen  ;  thirteen 

7  cities  with  their  villages  :  Ain,  Rimmon,  and  Ether,  and 

8  Ashan ;  four  cities  with  their  villages  :  and  all  the  villages 


xix.  1-9.   The  Inheritance  of  Simeon. 

1.  The  statement  of  the  second  half  of  the  verse  replaces  any 
definition  of  borders. 

2.  Catalogue  of  the  cities  of  Simeon,  thirteen  in  the  Negeb 
(verses  2-6)  and  four  in  the  Negeb  and  Shephelah  (verse  7). 
With  some  textual  variations,  all  are  included  in  the  catalogue  of 
the  cities  of  Judah  (xv.  26-32,  42). 

or  Sheba:  Heb.  'and  Sheba,'  perhaps  a  dittograph  from  the 
preceding  word  (not  wanted  for  the  Jptal  of  thirteen,  and  not  in 
the  parallel  passage,  i  Chron.  iv.  28),  or  possibly  for  'and  Shema ' 
(xv.  26  ;  so  LXX). 

7.  Ain,  Blmmon  :  xv.  32  ;  should  be  En-Rimmon  (Neh.  xi.  29) 
as  in  LXX,  which  inserts  Talcha  (=Tochen?  i  Chron.  iv.  32) 
after  it,  so  making  up  the  total  of  four  cities. 


JOSHUA  19.  9-. 3.     P  357 

that  were  round  about  these  cities  to  Baalath-beer, 
Ramah  of  the  South.  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the 
tribe  of  the  children  of  Simeon  according  to  their 
famihes.  Out  of  the  ^  part  of  the  children  of  Judah  9 
was  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Simeon :  for  the 
portion  of  the  children  of  Judah  was  too  much  for  them  : 
therefore  the  children  of  Simeon  had  inheritance  in  the 
midst  of  their  inheritance. 

And  the  third  lot  came  up  for  the  children  of  Zebulun  10 
according  to  their  families  :  and  the  border  of  their  in- 
heritance was  unto  Sarid  :    and    their   border  went  up  1 1 
westward,  even  to  Maralah,  and  reached  to  Dabbesheth  ; 
and  it  reached  to  the  brook  that  is  before  Jokneam ;  and  12 
it  turned  from  Sarid  eastward  toward  the  sunrising  unto 
the  border  of  Chisloth-tabor ;  and  it  went  out  to  Daberath, 
and  went  up  to  Japhia;  and  from  thence  it  passed  along  13 
eastward  to  Gath-hepher,  to  Eth-kazin  ;  and  it  went  out 

^  Heb.  line. 

8.  Cf.  I  Chron.  iv.  33,  from  which  (cf.  i  Sam.  xxx.  27)  8*  is 
perhaps  inserted  here  (Steuernagel). 

9.  The  actual  history  behind  this  statement  seems  to  be  that 
*  Simeon  stands  for  one  of  the  unsettled  elements  of  the  southern 
population  fused  more  or  less  permanently  into  a  state  by  David ' 
{E.B.,  4531  :  cf.  I  Chron.  iv.  ^i^^. 

xix.  10-16.  The  Inheritance  of  Zebulun  (south  of  Asher  and  of 
Naphtali.  north  of  Issachar). 

10.  Sarid  :  perhaps  (reading  Sadid)  Tel-Shaddud,  on  the  north 
edge  of  the  Plain  of  Esdaelon,  and  south-u'est  of  Nazareth.  From 
this  point  the  south  border  is  defined,  first  west  verse  11),  then 
east  (verse  12). 

11.  Jokneam:  xii.  22;  in  Carmel,  near  the  north-west  end  of 
the  plain. 

12.  Chisloth-tabor :  possibly  Chesulloth  (verse  18).  two  miles 
south-east  of  Nazareth  ;  Daberath  is  Dabureye,  four  miles  east  of 
Nazareth. 

13.  <^?^.th-hepher :  perhaps  El-Meshed,  three  miles  north-east 
of  Nazareth. 


3S8  JOSHUA  19.  14-23.     P 

14  at  Rimmon  which  stretcheth  unto  Neah ;  and  the  border 
turned  about  it  on  the  north  to  Hannathon  :  and  the 

15  goings  out  thereof  were  at  the  valley  of  Iphtah-el ;  and 
Kattath,  and   Nahalal,  and   Shimron,  and  ■  Idalah,  and 

16  Beth-lehem  :  twelve  cities  with  their  villages.  This  is  the 
inheritance  of  the  children  of  Zebulun  according  to  their 
families,  these  cities  with  their  villages. 

ijr      The  fourth  lot  came  out  for  Issachar,   even  for  the 

18  children  of  Issachar  according  to  their  families.    And  their 

border  was  unto  Jezreel,  and  ChesuUoth,  and  Shunem  ; 

19,  20  and  Hapharaim,  and  Shion,  and  Anaharath ;  and  Rabbith, 

2  r  and  Kishion,  and  Ebez ;  and  Remeth,  and  En-gannim, 

22  and  En-haddah,  and  Beth-pazzez ;  and  the  border  reached 
to  Tabor,  and  Shahazumah,  and  Beth-shemesh  ;  and  the 
goings  out  of  their  border  were  at  Jordan  :  sixteen  cities 

23  with  their  villages.     This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe 


Bimmon  :  Rummaneh,  six  miles  north  of  Nazareth. 
whicli  stretcheth  :  read,  with  Dillmann,  by  a  change  of  one 
letter,  'and  inclined.' 

14.  The  north  border  (the  west  border,  contiguous  with  Asher, 
is  not  given  :  cf.  verse  27). 

15.  Five  cities  are  named  abruptly  as  belonging  to  Zebulun, 
whilst  the  total  is  stated  to  be  twelve.  Similar  discrepancies, 
pointing  to  textual  omissions,  occur  in  verses  30,  38. 

xix.  17-23.  The  Inheritance  of  Issachar  (having  Manasseh  to  its 
south  (xvii.  7)  and  west  (xvii.  10),  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  to  its 
north  (verses  11,  34),  and  the  Jordan  to  its  east).  Most  of  the 
Plain  of  Esdraelon  is  included. 

18.  unto  Jezreel :  this  cannot  be  part  of  the  definition  of  the 
border,  since  Jezreel  lies  in  the  centre  of  Issachar's  territory ; 
a  catalogue  of  cities  belonging  to  Issachar  begins  here  ;  note  that 
'border'  can  also  mean  '  territor3\' 

22.  This  verse  apparently  gives  the  east  part  of  the  north  border, 
contiguous  with  Naphtali,  from  Tabor  (at  or  near  the  mountain  of 
that  name)  to  the  Jordan.  These  three  cities,  however,  are 
reckoned  with  the  total  of  sixteen.  The  whole  section  is  con- 
fused, perhaps  through  abbreviation. 


JOSHUA  19.  24-30.     P  359 

of  the  children  of  Issachar  according  to  their  families, 
the  cities  with  their  villages. 

And  the  fifth  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of  the  children  24 
of  Asher  according  to  their  families.     And  their  border  25 
was  Helkath,  and  Hali,  and  Beten,  and  Achshaph ;  and  26 
Allammelech,  and  Amad,  and  Mishal ;  and  it  reached  to 
Carmel  westward,  and  to  Shihor-libnath ;  and  it  turned  27 
toward  the   sunrising   to   Beth-dagon,    and   reached   to 
Zebulun,  and  to  the  valley  of  Iphtah-el  northward   to 
Beth-emek  and  Neiel ;  and  it  went  out  to  Cabul  on  the 
left  hand,  and  Ebron,  and  Rehob,  and  Hammon,  and  28 
Kanah,  even  unto  great  Zidon ;  and  the  border  turned  to  29 
Ramah,  and  to  "'  the  fenced  city  of  Tyre ;  and  the  border 
turned  to  Hosah  ;  and  the  goings  out  thereof  were  at  the 
sea  b  by  the  region  of  Achzib  :  Ummah  also,  and  Aphek,  3° 

*  Or,  the  a'fy  of  Mibzar  Zor  that  is,  the  fortress  of  Tyre. 
^  Or,  from  Hehel  to  Achzib. 


xix.  24-31.  The  Inheritance  of  Asher  (along  the  Mediterranean 
coast,  from  the  Carmel  district  northwards).  The  text  shows 
disorder  similar  to  that  of  the  last  section.  The  catalogue  of  the 
cities  and  the  definition  of  the  border  lines  have  been  confused. 
It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  boundaries  intended  on  the  south,  east, 
and  north.     See  map  for  general  indication. 

25.  border:  here  'territory'  (cf  verse  11).  Seven  cities 
belonging  to  Asher  are  first  named  (verses  25,  26*). 

26.  The  southern  limit  is  given  by  Carmel,  where  the  point  of 
contact  with  Manasseh  is  found  (xvii,  10). 

Shihor-libnath:    probably  the  Nahr  ez-Zerka,  flowing  into 
the  Mediterranean  a  little  north  of  Caesarea. 

27.  The  east  border  (contiguous  with  Zebulun)  is  defined  to 
'  the  valley  of  Iphtah-el '  (verse  14),  from  which  it  continues  north 
to  Zidon  (verse  29).  Beth-emek  and  Neiel  belong  to  the  catalogue 
of  cities. 

28.  Four  cities  belongfing  to  the  catalogue  rather  than  to  the 
border. 

29.  The  north  border,  which  apparently  turns  southwards  before 
reaching  the  coast. 

30.  by  the  region  of  (Achzib)  :  by  transposition  of  a  letter  we 


36a  JOSHUA  19.  31-39.     P 

and  Rehob :   twenty  and  two  cities  with  their  villages. 

31  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of 
Asher  according  to  their  families,  these  cities  with  their 
villages. 

32  The  sixth  lot  came  out  for  the  children  of  Naphtali, 
even  for  the  children  of  Naphtali   according   to   their 

33  famihes.  And  their  border  was  from  Heleph,  from  the 
*oak  in  Zaanannim,  and  Adami-nekeb,  and  Jabneel, 
unto   Lakkum ;    and   the   goings   out   thereof  were   at 

34  Jordan :  and  the  border  turned  westward  to  Aznoth- 
tabor,  and  went  out  from  thence  to  Hukkok;  and  it 
reached  to  Zebulun  on  the  south,  and  reached  to  Asher 
on  the  west,  and  to  Judah  at  Jordan  toward  the  sunrising. 

35  And  the  fenced  cities  were  Ziddim,  Zer,  and  Hammath, 

36  Rakkath,  and  Chinnereth ;   and  Adamah,  and  Ramah, 
7,  38  and  Hazor ;  and  Kedesh,  and  Edrei,  and  En-hazor  ;  and 

Iron,  and  Migdal-el,  Horem,  and  Beth-anath,  and  Beth- 
39  shemesh  ;   nineteen  cities  with   their  villages.     This  is 

*  Or,  oak  (or  terebinth)  of  Bezaanannim 


should  probably  read  Mahalab  (the  Assyrian  Mahalliba,  named  by 
Sennacherib),  itself  varied  to  Ahlab  in  Judges  i.  31.  This,  with 
the  next  four  names,  will  belong  to  the  catalogue  of  cities,  of 
which,  however,  only  seventeen  (eighteen)  instead  of  the  alleged 
total,  twenty-two,  appear  to  be  named. 

Umiuah :  read  '  Akko '  with  LXX  and  Judges  i.  31. 

xix.  32-39.    The  Inheritance  of  Naphtali. 

32  f.  '  Little  that  is  definite  can  be  gathered  from  the  description 
in  verses  32-4  beyond  the  fact  that  Naphtali  lay  in  the  angle 
between  Asher  and  Zebulun'  (Bennett,  S.B.O.T.). 

33.  the  oak :  a  sacred  tree  (cf.  xxiv.  26),  here  become  a  land- 
mark.    For  the  tree  cult  of  the  Semites,  cf.  Rel.  Sem.^,  p.  185. 

34.  to  Judah  :  meaningless  (LXX  omits) ;  perhaps  it  comes 
from  a  marginal  gloss  'like  Judah,'  indicating  the  similarity  of  the 
east  borders  of  Naphtali  and  Judah  respectively. 

35.  fenced  cities :  verse  29  (R.  V.  marg.),  x.  20  (note). 
38.  nineteen :  sixteen  names  are  actually  given. 


JOSHUA  19.  40-48.     P  J  P  361 

the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  the  children  of  Naphtali 
according  to  their  families,  the  cities  with  their  villages. 

The  seventh  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of  the  children  40 
of  Dan  according  to  their  families.     And  the  border  of  41 
their  inheritance  was  Zorah,  and  Eshtaol,  and  Ir-shemesh  ; 
and  Shaalabbin,  and  Aijalon,  and  Ithlah ;  and  Elon,  and  42, 
Timnah,  and  Ekron  ;  and  Eltekeh,  and  Gibbethon,  and  44 
Baalath  ;  and  Jehud,  and  Bene-berak,  and  Gath-rimmon ;  45 
and  Me-jarkon,  and  Rakkon,  with  the  border  over  against  46 
f^Joppa.     [J]  And  the  border  of  the  children  of  Dan  47 
went  out  ^  beyond  them  :  for  the  children  of  Dan  went 
up  and  fought  against  c  Leshem^  and  took  it,  and  smote 
it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  possessed  it,  and  dwelt 
therein,  and  called  Leshem,  Dan,  after  the  name  of  Dan 
their  father.     [P]  This  is  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  48 

■^  Heb.  Japho.  ^  Or,  from  them  :  ami  &c. 

^  In  Judg.  xviii.  29,  Laish. 


xix.  40-48.   The  Inheritance  of  Dan  {novih-wcsi  oi  jwdiah).     No 
definition  of  border  is  given,  but  simply  a  catalogue  of  seventeen 
or  eighteen  cities    (verses  41-6).     A  verse   is  inserted   from  J, 
describing  the  Danite  migration  to  Laish  in  the  north  (verse  47). 
41.  border  :  '  territory  '  (verses  18,  46). 

Zorah,  Eshtaol,  and  Ekron  (verse  43)  belong  to  Judah, 
according  to  xv.  33,  45. 

Ir-shemesh  =  Beth-shemesh,  xv.  10. 

46.  over  against  Joppa  :  it  is  not  said  that  Joppa  itself  be- 
longed to  Dan  ;  as  a  matter  of  history,  it  was  never  in  the  hands 
of  Israel  till  taken  under  Simon  the  Maccabee  (i  Mace.  xiii.  11). 

47.  The  verse  is  placed  by  LXX  after  verse  48,  with  a  preface, 
drawn  from  Judges  i.  34,  35,  explaining  that  this  migration  was 
<liie  to  Amorite  pressure.  In  Judges  xiii  f ,  the  Danites  are  settled 
near  Zorah  and  Eshtaol,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  tribe  migrated 
to  the  extreme  north,  as  is  described  in  Judges  xviii. 

went  out  beyond  them  :  we  should  read,  probably  (cf  LXX), 
'  was  too  narrow  for  them  '  (cf  xvii.  15). 

Xieshem:  Laish  or  Dan,  near  the  sources  of  the  Jordan,  the 
most  northern  settlement  of  Israel,  as  is  suggested  by  the  well- 
known  phrase  '  from  Dan  even  to  Beersheba'  (i  Sam.  iii.  20,  &c.). 


362  JOSHUA  19.  49—20.  2.     PEP 

the  children  of  Dan  according  to  their  families,  these 
cities  with  their  villages. 

49  So  they  made  an  end  of  distributing  the  land  for  in- 
heritance by  the  borders  thereof;  [E]  and  the  children 
of  Israel  gave  an  inheritance  to  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun 

50  in  the  midst  of  them  :  according  to  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord  they  gave  him  the  city  which  he  asked,  even 
Timnath-serah  in  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim  :  and  he 
built  the  city,  and  dwelt  therein. 

51  [P]  These  are  the  inheritances,  which  Eleazar  the 
priest,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  the  heads  of  the 
fathers'  houses  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
distributed  for  inheritance  by  lot  in  Shiloh  before  the 
Lord,  at  the  door  of  the  tent  of  meeting.  So  they  made 
an  end  of  dividing  the  land. 

SO  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying.  Speak  to 
the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  Assign  you  the  cities  of 

xix.  49-50.   The  Inheritance  of  Joshua  (xxiv.  30 ;  cf.  Caleb,  xv.  13). 

50.  Timnath-serah,  xxiv.  3o  =  Timnath-heres,  Judges  ii.  9; 
i.  e,  Tibneh,  twelve  miles  north-east  of  Lydda,  ten  miles  north- 
west of  Bethel. 

51.  Formal  conclusion  by  P  to  the  account  of  the  division  of  the 
land,  answering  to  the  introduction,  xviii.  i,  xiv.  i  f. 

XX.    The  Cities  of  Refuge.     Yahweh  instructs  Joshua  to  proceed 
with  the  appointment  of  cities  of  refuge  for  those  who  have  com- 
mitted (unintentional)  homicide  (verses  1-6).     The  following  are 
accordingly  set  apart :    Kedesh-Naphtali,  Shechem,  and  Hebron 
on  the  west  (verse  7),  and  Bezer,  Ramoth-Gilead,  and  Golan,  on 
the  east  of  Jordan  (verse  8)  ;  for  the  aforesaid  purpose  (verse  9). 
The  chapter  is  closely  connected  with  Num.  xxxv.  9  f.  (P)  as 
the  execution  of  the  command  there  given.     But  certain  parts  of 
it  ('  unawares '  in  verse  3  ;  verses  4,  5  ;  verse  6,  except  '  until  he 
,  stand  before  the  congregation  for  judgement ')  show  equally  close 
'  contact  with  Deut.  xix,  and  with  Deuteronomy  in  general.     Since 
these  particular  verses  are  not  found  in  the  LXX^  it  seems  clear 
that  they  have  been  added  by  a  writer  wishing  to  combine  D's 
version  of  the  command  with  that  of  P.     In  the  text  above  they 
are  placed  in  square  brackets. 


JOSHUA  20.  z-1'     P  363 

refuge,  whereof  I  spake  unto  you  by  the  hand  of  Moses  : 
that  the  manslayer  that  killeth  any  person  »  unwittingly  3 
[and  unawares]  may  flee  thither :  and  they  shall  be  unto 
you  for  a  refuge  from  the  avenger  of  blood.     [And  he  4 
shall  flee  unto  one  of  those  cities,  and  shall  stand  at  the 
entering  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  declare  his  cause  in 
the  ears  of  the  elders  of  that  city  ;  and  they  shall  ^  take 
him  into  the  city  unto  them,  and  give  him  a  place,  that 
he  may  dwell  among  them.     And  if  the  avenger  of  blood  5 
pursue  after  him,  then  they  shall  not  deliver  up  the  man- 
slayer  into  his  hand ;   because  he  smote  his  neighbour 
unawares,  and  hated  him  not  beforetime.     And  he  shall  6 
dwell  in  that  city],  until  he  stand  before  the  congregation 
for  judgement,  [until  the  death  of  the  high  priest  that 
shall  be  in  those  days  :  then  shall  the  manslayer  return, 
and  come  unto  his  own  city,  and  unto  his  own  house, 
unto   the   city   from  whence  he  fled.]     And  they  ^  set  7 
apart  Kedesh  in  d  Galilee  in  the  hill  country  of  Naphtali, 
and  Shechem  in  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  and  Kiriath- 
arba  (the  same  is  Hebron)  in  the  hill  country  of  Judah. 

*  Or,  through  error  ^  Heb.  gather.  ^  Heb.  sanctified. 

^  Heb.  Gain. 


2.  whereof  I  spake:  Num.  xxxv.  pf. 

3.  nnwittingrly :    or  'accidentally,'  the  phrase   of  P    (Num. 
xxxv.  IT,  15). 

unawares :  the  phrase  of  D  (Deut.  xix.  4,  cf  iv.  42). 
the  aveng'er  of  blood  :  see  on  Deut.  xix.  6. 

4.  5.  See  the  notes  on  Deut.  xix  for  these  verses  and  for  the 
whole  subject. 

6.  until  he  stand,  &c.  :   this  belongs  to  verse  3  (LXX,  and 

Num.  xxxv.  12)  ;  nor  is  it  a  real  parallel  with  *  until  the  death,'  &c. 

that  shall  he  in  those  days  :  Deut.  xvii.  9,  xix.  17,  xxvi.  3. 

*J.  set  apart:    historically,  no  doubt,  the  reference  is    to  the 

ftmintenance  of  ancient  sanctuary  rights  at  these  particular  places. 

Kedesh :  xii.  22,  xix.  37  ;   Sheohem,  xxiv.  25  f.  ;   Xiriath- 
arba,  xiv.  15  (notes). 


364  JOSHUA  20.  8—21.  4.     P 

8  And  beyond  the  Jordan  at  Jericho  eastward,  they 
assigned  Bezer  in  the  wilderness  in  the  *  plain  out  of 
the  tribe  of  Reuben,  and  Ramoth  in  Gilead  out  of  the 
tribe  of  Gad,  and  Golan  in  Bashan  out  of  the  tribe  of 

9  Manasseh.  These  were  the  appointed  cities  for  all  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  for  the  stranger  that  sojourneth 
among  them,  that  whosoever  killeth  any  person  ^  unwit- 
tingly might  flee  thither,  and  not  die  by  the  hand  of  the 
avenger  of  blood,  until  he  stood  before  the  congregation. 

21  Then  came  near  the  heads  of  fathers'  houses  of  the 
Levites  unto  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  unto  Joshua  the  son 
of  Nun,  and  unto  the  heads  of  fathers'  houses  of  the  tribes 

2  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  they  spake  unto  them  at 
Shiloh  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  saying.  The  Lord  com- 
manded by  the  hand  of  Moses  to  give  us  cities  to  dwell 

3  in,  with  the  ^  suburbs  thereof  for  our  cattle.  And  the 
children  of  Israel  gave  unto  the  Levites  out  of  their 
inheritance,  according  to  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord,  these  cities  with  their  suburbs. 

4  And  the  lot  came  out  for  the  families  of  the  Kohath- 

*  Or,  table  land  ^  Qr,  through  error 

"  Or,  pasture  lands 

8  f.  According  to  Deut.  iv.  41,  43  (where  see  the  notes),  these 
three  cities  have  already  been  assigned  by  Moses. 
at  Jericho  eastward :  omit  with  LXX. 

9.  the  strangfer :  Num.  xxxv.  15  ;  Deut.  i.  16  (note). 

xxi.    The  Levitical  Cities  (cf.  Num.  xxxv.  1-8,  P). 

The  representatives  of  the  Levites  ask  for  the  appointment  of 
their  promised  cities  (verses  i,  2),  which  is  thereupon  made  (verse 
3).  Catalogue  of  these  cities  by  number  (verses  4-7),  and  by  name 
(verses  8-40).  Summary  (verses  41,  42),  and  conclusion  to  whole 
account  of  the  division  of  the  land  (verses  43-45). 

1.  the  heads  of  fathers'  (houses) :  Exod.  vi.  25  :  cf,  Joshua 
xxii.  14. 

2.  commanded:  Num.  xxxv.  2f. 

suburbs  :  substitute  R.  V.  marg.  throughout  (see  on  xiv.  4). 
4.  According    to   Exod.  vi.    16;     Num.    iii.   17,  xxvi.   57,  the 


JOSHUA  21.  5-10.     P  365 

ites :  and  the  children  of  Aaron  the  priest,  which  were 
of  the  Levites,  had  by  lot  out  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and 
out  of  the  tribe  of  the  Simeonites,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  thirteen  cities. 

And  the  rest  of  the  children  of  Kohath  had  by  lot  out  5 
of  the  families  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  out  of  the 
tribe  of  Dan,  and  out  of  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh, 
ten  cities. 

And  the  children  of  Gershon  had  by  lot  out  of  the  6 
families  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of 
Asher,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  and  out  of  the 
half  tribe  of  Manasseh  in  Bashan,  thirteen  cities. 

The  children  of  Merari  according  to  their  families  had  7 
out  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Gad, 
and  out  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  twelve  cities. 

And  the  children  of  Israel  gave  by  lot  unto  the  Levites  8 
these  cities  with  their  suburbs,  as  the  Lord  commanded 
by  the  hand  of  Moses.     And  they  gave  out  of  the  tribe  9 
of  the  children  of  Judah,  and  out  of  the  tribe  of  the 
children  of  Simeon,  these  cities  which  are  here  mentioned 
by  name :  and  they  were  for  the  children  of  Aaron,  of  10 
the  families  of  the  Kohathites,  who  were  of  the  children 

three  sons  (i.  e.  clans')  of  Levi  were  Gershon,  Kohath,  and  Merari ; 
Kohath  is  here  put  first  because  the  Aaronitic  priests  belong-  to 
this  division  (verse  10).  Amram,  the  eldest  son  of  Kohath  is  the 
father  of  Aaron  and  Moses  ;  the  children  of  Aaron  are  Nadab  and 
Abihu,  Eleazar  and  Ithamar. 

5.  the  rest  of  the  children  of  Kohath  are  Izhar,  Hebron,  and 
Uzziel  (Exod.  vi.  18). 

out  of  the  families  :  omitted  by  LXX  and  Pesh. ;  read  as  in 
verse  7,  '  according  to  their  families,'  after  '  Kohath.' 

6.  the  children  of  Gershon  :   Libni  and  Shimei  (Exod.  vi.  17). 

7.  the  children  of  Merari :  Mahli  and  Mushi  (Exod.  vi.  ipX 

xxi.  9-19.  Nine  cities  of  Judah  and  Simeon  (verses  13-16),  and 
four  of  Benjamin  (verse  17"^  are  assigned  to  the  Aaronites. 
10.  The  Hebrew  breaks  oft' abruptly  ;  see  next  note. 


^66  JOSHUA  21.  11-20.     P 

1 1  of  Levi :  for  theirs  was  the  first  lot.  And  they  gave  them 
Kiriath-arba,  w/iic/i  Arba  was  the  father  of  *  Anak,  (the 
same  is  Hebron,)  in  the  hill  country  of  Judah,  with  the 

i2  suburbs  thereof  round  about  it.  But  the  fields  of  the 
city,  and  the  villages  thereof,  gave  they  to  Caleb  the 
son  of  Jephunneh  for  his  possession. 

13  And  unto  the  children  of  Aaron  the  priest  they  gave 
Hebron  with  her  suburbs,  the  city  of  refuge  for  the  man- 

14  slayer,  and  Libnah  with  her  suburbs ;  and  Jattir  with  her 

15  suburbs,  and  Eshtemoa  with  her  suburbs ;  and  Holon  with 

16  her  suburbs,  and  Debir  with  her  suburbs ;  and  Ain  with  her 
suburbs,  and  Juttah  with  her  suburbs,  and  Beth-shemesh 
with  her  suburbs ;  nine  cities  out  of  those  two  tribes. 

17  And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,   Gibeon  with   her 

18  suburbs,  Geba  with   her  suburbs;   Anathoth   with   her 

19  suburbs,  and  Almon  with  her  suburbs ;  four  cities.  All 
the  cities  of  the  children  of  Aaron,  the  priests,  were 
thirteen  cities  with  their  suburbs. 

20  And  the  families  of  the  children  of  Kohath,   the 

*  Heb.  Anok. 


11,  12.  Verse  11  forms  a  doublet  with  verse  13,  and  seems  to 
have  been  added  (with  verse  12)  to  reconcile  the  possession  of 
Hebron  by  both  Caleb  (xiv.  13,  xv.  13)  and  Levi.  The  recon- 
ciliation is  effected  by  distinguishing  between  the  wider  territory 
('fields,'  'villages')  as  given  to  Caleb,  and  the  immediately 
neighbouring  pasture-grounds  (*  suburbs ' :  of.  Num.  xxxv.  a)  as 
given  to  Levi. 

Kiriath-arba  :  xv.  13.  The  six  cities  of  refuge  of  chap,  xx 
are  all  included  amongst  the  Levitical  cities  of  chap,  xxi,  according 
to  Num.  XXXV.  6. 

16.  Ain:  read,  with  LXX,  *  Asa*  =  Ashan  (i  Chron.  vL  59,  in 
a  parallel  list),  the  one  Simeonite  city  assigned  to  Levi. 

18.  Anathoth,  Almon:  not  named  amongst  the  Benjamite 
cities  of  xviii.  21-8. 

19.  the  children  of  Aaron,  the  priests :  see  on  Deut.  xviii.  i. 
xxi.  20-26.  Four  cities  of  Ephraim  (verses  21,  22),  four  of  Dan 


JOSHUA  21.  21-32.     P  367 

Levites,  even  the  rest  of  the  children  of  Kohath,  they 
had  the  cities  of  their  lot  out  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim. 
And  they  gave  them  Shechem  with  her  suburbs  in  the  21 
hill  country  of  Ephraim,  the  city  of  refuge  for  the  man- 
slayer,  and  Gezer  with  her  suburbs ;   and  Kibzaim  with  22 
her  suburbs,  and  Beth-horon  with  her  suburbs  ;    four 
cities.      And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  Elteke  with  her  23 
suburbs,    Gibbethon    with   her   suburbs ;   Aijalon  with  24 
her  suburbs,  Gath-rimmon  with  her  suburbs ;  four  cities. 
And  out  of  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  Taanach  with  her  25 
suburbs,  and  Gath-rimmon  with  her  suburbs  ;  two  cities. 
All  the  cities  of  the  families  of  the  rest  of  the  children  of  26 
Kohath  were  ten  with  their  suburbs. 

And  unto  the  children  of  Gershon,  of  the  families  of  27 
the  Levites,  out  of  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  they  gave 
Golan  in  Bashan  with  her  suburbs,  the  city  of  refuge  for 
the  manslayer ;  and  Be-eshterah  with  her  suburbs ;   two 
cities.      And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  Kishion  with  28 
her  suburbs,  Daberath  with  her  suburbs  ;  Jarmuth  with  29 
her  suburbs,   En-gannim  with  her  suburbs ;   four  cities. 
And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Asher,  Mishal  with  her  suburbs,  30 
Abdon  with  her  suburbs  ;    Helkath  with  her  suburbs,  31 
and  Rehob  with  her  suburbs  ;  four  cities.     And  out  of  32 
the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  Kedesh  in  Galilee  with  her  suburbs, 
the  city  of  refuge  for  the  manslayer,  and  Hammoth-dor 
with  her  suburbs,  and  Kartan  with  her  suburbs ;   three 

(verses  23,  24),  two  of  Western  Manasseh  (verse  25),  are  assigned 
to  the  non-Aaronitic  Kohathites. 

25.  Gath-rimmon  :  probably  a  mistaken  repetition  from  the 
previous  verse ;  read  '■  Ibleam '  (cf.  LXX,  and  i  Chron.  vi.  70). 

xxi.  27-33.  Two  cities  of  East  Manasseh  (verse  27),  four  of 
Issachar  (verses  28,  29),  four  of  Asher  (verses  30,  31),  three  of 
Naphtali  (verse  32)  are  assigned  to  the  Gershonites. 

27.  B«-esliterah  =  Beth-£shterah,  or  Ashtaroth  (xiii.  31). 


368  JOSHUA  21.  33-^3.     P  R° 

33  cities.  All  the  cities  of  the  Gershonites  according  to 
their  families  were  thirteen  cities  with  their  suburbs. 

34  And  unto  the  families  of  the  children  of  Merari,  the 
rest  of  the  Levites,  out  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  JoVi^ieam 

35  with  her  suburbs,  and  Kartah  with  her  suburbs,  ^  iunah 
with  her  suburbs,  Nahalal  with  her  suburbs ;  four  cities. 

36  « And  out  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  Bezer  with  her  suburbs, 

37  and  Jahaz  with  her  suburbs,  Kedemoth  with  her  suburbs, 

38  and  Mephaath  with  her  suburbs ;  four  cities.  And  out 
of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  Ramoth  in  Gilead  with  her  suburbs, 
the  city  of  refuge  for  the  manslayer,  and  Mahanaim  with 

39  her  suburbs ;  Heshbon  with  her  suburbs,  Jazer  with  her 

40  suburbs  ;  four  cities  in  all.  All  these  were  the  cities 
of  the  children  of  Merari  according  to  their  families, 
even  the  rest  of  the  families  of  the  Levites  j  and  their  lot 
was  twelve  cities. 

41  All  the  cities  of  the  Levites  in  the  midst  of  the  posses- 
sion of  the  children  of  Israel  were  forty  and  eight  cities 

4  2  with  their  suburbs.  These  cities  were  every  one  with  their 
suburbs  round  about  them  :  thus  it  was  with  all  these 
cities. 

43  [R°]  So  the  Lord  gave  unto  Israel  all  the  land  which  he 
sware  to  give  unto  their  fathers ;  and  they  possessed  it. 

*  Verses  36,  37  are  not  in  the  Massoretic  text,  but  are  found 
in  very  many  MSB.  and  in  the  ancient  versions.  See  also 
1  Chr.  vi.  78,  79. 

xxi.  34-40.  Four  cities  of  Zebulun  (verses  34,  35),  four  of 
Reuben  (verses  36,  37),  four  of  Gad  (verses  38,  39)  are  assigned 
to  the  Merarites. 

35.  Dimnali :  not  in  LXX,  nor  in  xix.  10-16 ;  Rimmonah  ? 
(cf.  xix.  13  ;  I  Chron.  vi.  77). 

xxi.  41,  42.  Concluding  Summary. 
forty  and  eig^ht :  so  Num.  xxxv.  7. 

xxi.  43-43.  General  Deuteronomistic  conclusion,  emphasizing 


JOSHUA  21.  44—22.  5.    R°  369 

and  dwelt  therein.  And  the  Lord  gave  them  rest  round  44 
about,  according  to  all  that  he  sware  unto  their  fathers : 
and  there  stood  not  a  man  of  all  their  enemies  before 
them  •  the  Lord  delivered  all  their  enemies  into  their 
hand'.' ^"^ There  failed  not  aught  of  any  good  thing  which  45 
the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  the  house  of  Israel ;  all 
came  to  pass. 

Then  Joshua  called  the  Reubenites,  and  the  Gadites,  22 
and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  and  said  unto  them,  Ye  2 
have  kept  all  that  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  com- 
manded you,  and  have  hearkened  unto  my  voice  in  all 
that  I  commanded  you  :  ye  have  not  left  your  brethren  3 
these  many  days  unto  this  day,  but  have  kept  the  charge 
of  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  your  God.     And  now  4 
the  Lord  your  God  hath  given  rest  unto  your  brethren, 
as  he  spake  unto  them  :  therefore  now  turn  ye,  and  get 
you  unto  your  tents,  unto  the  land  of  your  possession, 
which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  gave  you  beyond 
Jordan.     Only  take  diligent  heed  to  do  the  command-  5 

the  fidelity  of  Yahw«h  to  his  promises,  as  shown  by  Israel's 
secure  possession  of  Canaan. 

45.  failed:  Heb.  'fell,'  i.e.  to  the  ground  as  unfulfilled 
(2  Kings  X.  10). 

xxii.  1-8.  Dismissal  of  the  east  of  Jordan  ttibes.  Joshua  praises 
their  conduct  (verses  1-3),  and  dismisses  them  to  their  own 
territory  (verse  4),  bidding  them  continue  their  obedience  to 
Yahweh  (verses  5,  6).  Two  notes  are  added,  on  the  territory  of 
Manasseh  and  the  division  of  spoil  respectively  (verses  7,  8). 

3.  many  days :  in  xi.  18  the  same  phrase  is  rendered  '  a  long 
time.' 

charge  :  Deut.  xi.  i. 

4.  hath  g-iven  rest :  as  stated  in  xxi.  44. 

tents:  Deut.  v.  30,  xvi.  7;  Israelite  homes  bore  this  name 
long  after  the  nomad  dwelling  had  passed  away  with  the  nomad 
life  (cf.  2  Kings  xiv.  12).  The  well-known  phrase,  '  To  your  tents, 
O  Israel ! '  is  a  formula  of  dispersion,  not,  as  is  often  supposed,  a 
call  to  military  action  (cf ,  e.  g.,  i  Kings  xii.  16). 

5    A  characteristic  epitome  of  Deuteronomic  religion. 

Bb 


370  JOSHUA  22.  6-9.     R^  P? 

ment  and  the  law,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord 
commanded  you,  to  love  the  Lord  your  God,  and  to 
walk  in  all  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his  commandments,  and 
to  cleave  unto  him,  and  to  serve  him  with  all  your  heart 

6  and  with  all  your  soul.  So  Joshua  blessed  them,  and 
sent  them  away  :  and  they  went  unto  their  tents. 

7  Now  to  the  one  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  Moses  had 
given  inheritance  in  Bashan  :  but  unto  the  other  half 
gave  Joshua  among  their  brethren  beyond  Jordan  west- 
ward.    Moreover  when  Joshua   sent   them   away   unto 

8  their  tents,  he  blessed  them,  and  spake  unto  them, 
saying.  Return  with  much  wealth  unto  your  tents,  and 
with  very  much  cattle,  with  silver,  and  with  gold,  and 
with  brass,  and  with  iron,  and  with  very  much  raiment: 
divide  the  spoil  of  your  enemies  with  your  brethren. 

9  [P  ?]  And  the  children  of  Reuben  and  the  children  of 

6.  blessed  them :  xiv.  13  (note). 

7.  The  following  section  (verse  gf.)  seems  to  have  spoken 
originally  of  Reuben  and  Gad  only  (cf.  verses  25,  32,  34).  Refer- 
ences to  '  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  '  have  been  added  in  verses 
9-TI,  13,  15,  21  (30,  31),  probably  by  the  same  annotator  to  whom 
the  present  verse  is  due.  For  the  probability  that  the  territory 
east  of  Jordan  was  not  occupied  by  Manasseh  till  a  later  date  than 
that  of  the  western  invasion,  see  the  notes  on  xvii.  i,  14-18. 

8.  Return  with  much  wealth  :  as  an  address,  the  sentence  is 
peculiar,  both  in  grammar  and  subject-matter  ;  LXX  omits  '  spake 
unto  them  saying,'  and  renders  the  whole  verse  as  narrative  (*  they 
returned,'  &c.),  which  is  more  likely  to  have  been  the  original 
form  of  the  words. 

your  brethren:  i.  e.  those  left  east  of  Jordan  (iv.  12)  :  cf.  the 
equitable  principle  of  David  for  the  division  of  booty  (i  Sam.  xxx.  24). 

xxii.  9-34.  The  Altar  of  the  Ea  si  em  Tribes.  The  eastern  tribes 
return,  and  erect  an  altar  by  the  Jordan  (verses  9,  to).  The  report 
of  this  leads  to  preparations  for  war  by  the  western  tribes  (verses 
II,  12).  A  deputation  is  sent,  headed  by  Phinehas,  to  protest 
against  the  building  of  this  altar,  and  to  point  out  the  peril  to  all 
in  the  sin  of  some  (verses  13-20).  The  eastern  tribes  reply  that 
their  act  has  no  element  of  rebellion  in  it,  since  the  altar  is  not  for 
sacrifice,  but  is  a  memorial  of  the  abiding  share  of  the  eastern 


JOSHUA  22.  10-12.     P?  371 

Gad  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  returned,  and  de- 
parted from  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Shiloh,  which  is 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  to  go  unto  the  land  of  Gilead,  to 
the  land  of  their  possession,  whereof  they  were  possessed, 
according  to  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  by  the  hand 
of  Moses.  And  when  they  came  unto  the  region  about  10 
Jordan,  that  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  children  of 
Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad  and  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh  built  there  an  altar  by  Jordan,  a  great  altar  to 
see  to.  And  the  children  of  Israel  heard  say.  Behold,  the  1 1 
children  of  Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad  and  the 
half  tribe  of  Manasseh  have  built  an  altar  in  the  forefront 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  in  the  region  about  Jordan,  on  the 
side  that  pertaineth  to  the  children  of  Israel.     And  when  12 

tribes  in  the  worship  of  Yahweh,  and  a  witness  to  future  genera- 
tions (verses  21-9).  This  explanation  is  accepted  by  the  deputation, 
and,  on  their  return,  by  the  western  tribes  (verses  30-4). 

The  central  emphasis  on  the  single  sanctuary  (of  Jerusalem), 
(see  p.  36),  v^ould  suggest  a  Deuteronomistic  writer,  but  the 
language  and  much  of  the  subject-matter  connect  with  P.  The 
whole  idea  is,  of  course,  untrue  to  the  earlier  freedom  of  Israel's 
religion,  which  permitted  many  altars  (Exod.  xx.  24). 

9.  Shiloli :  xviii.  i. 

Gilead:  in  its  wider  sense  of  the  Israelite  territory,  north 
and  south  of  the  Jabbok  (Num.  xxxii.  29,  &c.)  ;  in  Joshua  xii.  2,  5 
of  the  southern  half,  in  xiii.  31  of  the  northern  half. 

by  the  hand  of  Moses  :   Num.  xxxii. 

10.  the  region  about  (Jordan)  :  Heb,  '  Geliloth '  (circles), 
perhaps  a  place-name  (xviii.  17,  a  place  between  Benjamin  and 
Judah).  LXX  (B)  and  Pesh.  have  <  Gilgal,'  which  Dillmann 
thinks  probable.  The  altar  is,  in  this  verse,  set  up  west  of  Jordan 
as  '  in  the  land  of  Canaan '  implies  (cf.  verse  32). 

a  great  altar  to  see  to :  i.  e.  one  that  was  conspicuous  ; 
stated  in  view  of  the  subsequent  claim  (verse  27)  that  it  is  monu- 
mental, not  sacrificial. 

11.  in  the  forefront  of:  *  in  front  of*  (viii.  33,  ix.  i),  i.e. 
opposite  to. 

in  the  reg^ion  about  (Jordan)  :  see  on  verse  10 ;  Pesh.  has 
'Gilgal '  here,  as  there;  but  LXX  (B)  has  '  Gilead'  here. 

on  the  side  that  pertaineth  to :  rather,  *  toward  the  region 
opposite  '  {Heb.  Lex.  B.D.B.  :  cf  Deut.  xxx.  13,  *  beyond  the  sea '), 

B  b    2 


372  JOSHUA  22.  13-18.     P? 

the  children  of  Israel  heard  of  it,  the  whole  congregation 
of  the  children  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  together  at 
Shiloh,  to  go  up  against  them  to  war. 

13  And  the  children  of  Israel  sent  unto  the  children  of 
Reuben,  and  to  the  children  of  Gad,  and  to  the  half  tribe 
of  Manasseh,  into  the  land  of  Gilead,  Phinehas  the  son 

1 4  of  Eleazar  the  priest ;  and  with  him  ten  princes,  one 
prince  of  a  fathers'  house  for  each  of  the  tribes  of  Israel ; 
and  they  were  every  one  of  them  head  of  their  fathers' 

15  houses  among  the  ^  thousands  of  Israel.  And  they  came 
unto  the  children  of  Reuben,  and  to  the  children  of  Gad, 
and  to  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  unto  the  land  of  Gilead, 

16  and  they  spake  with  them,  saying.  Thus  saith  the  whole 
congregation  of  the  Lord,  What  trespass  is  this  that  ye 
have  committed  against  the  God  of  Israel,  to  turn  away 
this  day  from  following  the  Lord,  in  that  ye  have  builded 

17  you  an  altar,  to  rebel  this  day  against  the  Lord?  Is  the 
iniquity  of  Peor  too  little  for  us,  from  which  we  have  not 
cleansed  ourselves  unto  this  day,  although  there  came  a 

18  plague  upon  the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  that  ye  must 

*  Ox,  families 

i.  e.  on  the  eastern  side  of  Jordan.  If  the  text  be  right  (cf 
Steuernagel)  verse  11  comes  from  a  source  different  from  that  of 
verse  lo. 

13.  Phinehas :  Exod.  vi.  25  ;  Num.  xxv.  7,  xxxi.  6 ;  Joshua 
xxiv.  33. 

14.  ten  (princes)  :   i.  e.   representing  Ephraim  and  Western 
Manasseh  separately,  but  not  Levi  (represented  by  Phinehas). 

a  fathers'  house :  Num.  i.  4,  16,  &c.  ;  the  group  deriving  its 
origin  from  one  common  ancestor  (see  note  on  Joshua  vii.  14), 
usually  a  subdivision  smaller  than  the  '  clan '  {mishpachah),  here 
for  the  tribe  itself,  as  in  Num.  xvii.  2  (Steuernagel).  The  *  thou- 
sand '  is  another  tribal  division  of  varying  extent. 

16.  trespass  :    rather,  '  treachery,'  infidelity  (vii.   i),  i.  e.  the 
breach  of  the  law^  in  Deut.  xii.  4  f. 

17.  the  iniquity  of  Peor  :  Num.  xxv.  1-9  :  cf.  Deut.  iv,  3;  for 
the  plagfUe,  see  Num.  xxv.  3,  8,  9. 


JOSHUA  22.  19-22.     P?  373 

turn  away  this  day  from  following  the  Lord  ?  and  it  will 
be,  seeing  ye  rebel  to-day  against  the  Lord,  that  to- 
morrow he  will  be  wroth  with  the  whole  congregation 
of  Israel.  Howbeit,  if  the  land  of  your  possession  be  19 
unclean,  then  pass  ye  over  unto  the  land  of  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Lord,  wherein  the  Lord's  tabernacle  dwelleth, 
and  take  possession  among  us  :  but  rebel  not  against  the 
Lord,  nor  rebel  against  us,  in  building  you  an  altar  be- 
sides the  altar  of  the  Lord  our  God.  Did  not  Achan  20 
the  son  of  Zerah  commit  a  trespass  in  the  devoted  thing, 
and  wrath  fell  upon  all  the  congregation  of  Israel  ?  and 
that  man  perished  not  alone  in  his  iniquity. 

Then  the  children  of  Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad  2 1 
and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  answered,  and  spake  unto 
the  heads  of  the  '^  thousands  of  Israel,  ^The  Lord,  the  22 
God  of  gods,  the  Lord,  the  God  of  gods,  he  knoweth, 
and  Israel  he  shall  know ;  if  it  be  in  rebellion,  or  if  in 

*  Or,  families 

^  Or,  Godj  even  God,  the  Lord    Heb.  El  Elohim  Jehovah. 

18.  wroth  with  the  whole  cougregution  :  (cf.  Num.  xxv.  3, 
4,  11)  see  note  on  vii.  24. 

19.  unclean:  because  a  heathen  land  :  cf.  Amos  vii.  17  (Hos. 
ix,  3,  4  ;  Ezek.  iv.  13). 

tabernacle  :  enclosed  within  the  '  tent  of  meeting '  (xviii.  i  : 
cf.  Num.  iii.  25),  which  is  described  as  of  curtains  of  goats'  hair 
over  the  tabernacle  (Exod.  xxvi.  7).  But  the  eariier  sources  know 
nothing  of  this  (note  on  iii  3). 

rebel  against  us  :  probably  we  ought  to  modify  the  vowels  of 
the  Hebrew  verb  into  *  make  us  rebels,'  i.  e.  through  our  corporate 
life  (verse  20),  by  which  the  rebellion  of  some  is  visited  on  all. 

20.  Achan  :  vii.  i  f.  ;  Israel  suffered  defeat  and  thirty-six  men 
perished  through  the  treachery  of  one  man. 

22.  Yahweh,  the  God  of  gods  :  rather,  '  The  Mighty  One,  God, 
Yahweh '  (Ps.  1.  i)  ;  the  titles  are  brought  together,  and  the 
phrase  duplicated,  to  increase  the  solemnity  of  the  utterance, 
which  is  best  taken  as  consisting  of  three  parallel  and  independent 
titles.  The  first  of  these  (El,  R.V.  marg.)  is  the  most  general,  the 
third  the  most  special,  the  second  the  ordinary  name  for  Deity 
among  the  Hebrews  (see  Cheyne  on  Ps.  I.  i). 


374  JOSHUA  22.  23-28.     P? 

trespass  against  the  Lord,  (save  thou  us  not  this  day,) 

23  that  we  have  built  us  an  altar  to  turn  away  from  following 
the  Lord  ;  or  if  to  offer  thereon  burnt  offering  or  meal 
offering,  or  if  to  offer  sacrifices  of  peace  offerings  thereon, 

24  let  the  Lord  himself  require  it ;  and  if  we  have  not  rather 
out  of  carefulness  done  this,  and  of  purpose,  saying, 
In  time  to  come  your  children  might  speak  unto  our 
children,  saying,  What  have  ye  to  do  with  the  Lord, 

25  the  God  of  Israel  ?  for  the  Lord  hath  made  Jordan  a 
border  between  us  and  you,  ye  children  of  Reuben  and 
children  of  Gad  ;  ye  have  no  portion  in  the  Lord  :  so 
shall  your  children  make  our  children  cease  from  fearing 

26  the  Lord.  Therefore  we  said.  Let  us  now  prepare  to 
build  us  an  altar,  not  for  burnt  offering,  nor  for  sacrifice  : 

27  but  it  shall  be  a  witness  between  us  and  you,  and  between 
our  generations  after  us,  that  we  may  do  the  service  of 
the  Lord  before  him  with  our  burnt  offerings,  and  with 
our  sacrifices,  and  with  our  peace  offerings ;  that  your 
children  may  not  say  to  our  children  in  time  to  come, 

28  Ye  have  no  portion  in  the  Lord.  Therefore  said  we.  It 
shall  be,  when  they  so  say  to  us  or  to  our  generations  in 
time  to  come,  that  we  shall  say.  Behold  the  pattern  of 
the  altar  of  the  Lord,  which  our  fathers  made,  not  for 


23.  burnt  offering  (Deut.  xii.  6) ;  meal  offering* :  or  cereal 
oblation  of  flour,  baked  or  fried  cakes,  or  ears  of  wheat,  with  oil ; 
peace  offering" :  Deut.  xxvii.  7  ;  for  details  of  these  three  offerings 
see  Lev.  i,  ii,  iii,  respectively. 

24.  out  of  carefulness, . . .  and  of  purpose :  better,  'from  anxiety 
on  account  of  a  (particular)  thing,'  i.  e.  exclusion  from  the  worship 
of  Yahweh. 

26.  prepare :  the  Hebrew  is  *  make,'  requiring  some  direct 
object,  which  is  missing. 

28.  pattern :  Deut.  iv.  16.  *  likeness  '  ;  the  distinctive  character 
of  the  Yahweh  altar  will  prove  an  earlier  relationship  to  Him, 
with  participation  in  His  worship. 


JOSHUA  22.  29-34.     P?  375 

burnt  offering,  nor  for  sacrifice ;  but  it  is  a  witness  be- 
tween us  and  you.  God  forbid  that  we  should  rebel  29 
against  the  Lord,  and  turn  away  this  day  from  following 
the  Lord,  to  build  an  altar  for  burnt  offering,  for  meal 
offering,  or  for  sacrifice,  besides  the  altar  of  the  Lord 
our  God  that  is  before  his  tabernacle. 

And  when  Phinehas  the  priest,  and  the  princes  of  the  3° 
congregation,  even  the  heads  of  the  thousands  of  Israel 
which  were  with  him,  heard  the  words  that  the  children 
of  Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad  and  the  children  of 
Manasseh  spake,  it  pleased  them  well.     And  Phinehas  31 
the  son  of  Eleazar  the  priest  said  unto  the  children  of 
Reuben,  and  to  the  children  of  Gad,  and  to  the  children 
of  Manasseh,  This  day  we  know  that  the  Lord  is  in  the 
midst  of  us,  because  ye  have  not  committed  this  trespass 
against  the  Lord  :  now  have  ye  delivered  the  children  of 
Israel  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Lord.     And  Phinehas  the  32 
son  of  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  the  princes,  returned  from 
the  children  of  Reuben,  and  from  the  children  of  Gad, 
out  of  the  land  of  Gilead,   unto  the  land  of  Canaan, 
to  the  children  of  Israel,  and  brought  them  word  again. 
And  the  thing  pleased  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  the  33 
children  of  Israel  blessed  God,  and  spake  no  more  of 
going   up   against   them   to   war,    to   destroy   the   land 
wherein  the  children  of  Reuben  and   the  children  of 
Gad   dwelt.     And   the   children   of   Reuben    and    the  34 


29.  God  forbid :  Heb.  '  far  be  it  for  us.' 

31.  The  absence  of  sin  shows  the  presence  of  Yahweh ;  the 
explanation  has  delivered  Israel  from  the  peril  of  His  wrath. 

34.  The  name  of  the  altar  is  wanting  in  the  Hebrew.  The 
R.V.  has  followed  the  Peshitto  and  some  Hebrew  MSS.  in  supply- 
ing the  name  '  Witness  ' ;  Dillmann  and  others  prefer  to  supply 
Gal'ed  (Heap  of  Witness)  by  comparison  of  the  narrative  in  Gen. 
xxxi.  47  f.,  which  offers  this  phrase  as  the  etymology  of  Gilead. 


376  JOSHUA  23.  1-4.     P?  R^ 

children  of  Gad  called  the  altar  ^Ed\  For,  said  they, 
it  is  a  witness  between  us  that  the  Lord  is  God. 
23      [R^^]  And  it  came  to  pass  after  many  days,  when  the 
Lord  had  given  rest  unto  Israel  from  all  their  enemies 
round  about,  and  Joshua  was  old  and  well  stricken  in 

2  years ;  that  Joshua  called  for  all  Israel,  for  their  elders 
and  for  their  heads,  and  for  their  judges  and  for  their 
ofificers,  and  said  unto  them,  I  am  old  and  well  stricken 

3  in  years :  and  ye  have  seen  all  that  the  Lord  your  God 
hath  done  unto  all  these  nations  because  of  you ;  for  the 

4  Lord  your  God,  he  it  is  that  hath  fought  for  you.  Be- 
hold, I  have  allotted  unto  you  these  nations  that  remain, 
to  be  an  inheritance  for  your  tribes,  from  Jordan,  with 
all  the  nations  that  I  have  cut  off,  even  unto  the  great 

■  Thdt  is,  Witness. 

xxiii.  1-16.  The  first  farewell  address  of  Joshua.  Joshua  addresses 
the  representatives  of  all  Israel,  reminding  them  of  his  old  age 
(verses  i,  2),  and  of  the  completion  of  Yahweh's  work  (verse  3). 
The  remaining  nations  shall  be  dispossessed  (verses  4,  5).  Let 
Israel  faithfully  obey  the  Mosaic  law  of  separation  from  these 
nations  and  their  gods  (verses  6-8).  It  is  Yahweh  who  has  given 
the  victory,  and  is  to  be  loved  (verses  9-1 1).  Marriage  alliance 
with  these  nations  will  be  punished  by  their  being  preserved  to 
Israel's  hurt  (verses  12,  13).  As  Yahweh's  promises  of  good 
have  been  kept,  so  will  it  be  with  these  threats  of  evil  ;  if  Israel 
worship  other  gods  than  Yahweh,  His  anger  will  destroy  them, 
even  in  this  Land  of  Promise  (verses  14-16). 

This  exhortation,  clearly  Deuteronomic  in  language  and  thought 
throughout,  should  be  compared  with  the  farewell  addresses  of 
Moses  (Deut.  xxviii.  f.),  which  offer  frequent  parallels. 

1.  many  days  :  xi.  i8,  xxii.  3. 
ETiven  rest :  xxii.  4. 

well  stricken  in  years  :  xiii.  z. 

2.  all  Israel :  represented  by  the  subordinate  rulers  (viii.  33  ; 
Deut.  xxix.  10)  ;  the  place  of  the  assembly  is  not  stated. 

4.  these  nations  that  remain :  enumerated  by  this  writer  in 
xiii.  2-6.  After  from  Jordan  the  verse  shows  some  disorder; 
read,  with  Graetz  and  Holzinger  (cf  Vulg.),  'from  all  the  nations 
which  I  have  cut  off,  from  Jordan  and  unto  the  Great  Sea.' 


JOSHUA  23.  5-12.     R°  377 

sea  toward  the  going  down  of  the  sun.     And  the  Lord  5 
your  God,  he  shall  thrust  them  out  from  before  you,  and 
drive  them  from  out  of  your  sight ;  and  ye  shall  possess 
their   land,  as   the   Lord   your  God   spake  unto  you. 
Therefore  be  ye  very  courageous  to  keep  and  to  do  all  6 
that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  IMoses,  that  ye 
turn  not  aside  therefrom  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left ; 
that  ye  come  not  among  these  nations,  these  that  remain  7 
among  you  ;  neither  make  mention  of  the  name  of  their 
gods,  nor  cause  to  swear  by  them^  neither  serve  them,  nor 
bow  down  yourselves  unto  them  :  but  cleave  unto  the  8 
Lord  your  God,  as  ye  have  done  unto  this  day.     For  9 
the  Lord  hath  driven  out  from  before  you  great  nations 
and  strong :  but  as  for  you,  no  man  hath  stood  before 
you  unto  this  day.     One  man  of  you  » shall   chase  a  10 
thousand  :  for  the  Lord  your  God,  he  it  is  that  fighteth 
for  you,  as  he  spake  unto  you.     Take  good  heed  there-  n 
fore  unto  yourselves,  that  ye  love  the  Lord  your  God. 
Else  if  ye  do  in  any  wise  go  back,  and  cleave  unto  the  12 
remnant  of  these  nations,  even  these  that  remain  among 


6.  conragreous :  rather,  '  strong '  (firm),  as  rendered  in  i.  6. 
the  book  of  the  law  of  Uoses  :  i.  8. 

7.  make  mention:  Exod.  xxiii.  13. 

cause  to  swear  :  better,  by  a  change  of  the  vowel  points, 
'  swear,'  i.  e.  invoke  them  in  an  oath. 

Marriage  alliance  is  specially  in  view  (verse  12  :  of.  Deut.  vii. 
3),  and  the  objection  to  it  is  based  on  religious  grounds  ;  in  the 
home  of  a  mixed  marriage,  the  recognition  of  other  gods  than 
Yahweh  could  hardly  be  avoided  :  compare  the  difficulties  of  early 
converts  to  Christianity,  reflected  in  the  N.  T.  (i  Cor.  vii.  12  f.). 

10.  shall  chase  :  the  Hebrew  imperfect  tense,  here  employed, 
is  neither  future  (R.  V.  text)  nor  perfect  (R.  V.  marg.),  but 
frequentative  =  '  would  often  chase  '  (cf.  Driver,  Tenses^  §  30). 
For  the  figure,  see  Deut.  xxxii.  30  (of  Israel's  foes  chasing  Israel), 
xxviii.  7  :  cf.  Deut.  i.  30,  iii.  2a. 


378  JOSHUA  23.  13— 24.  i.     R^  E 

you,  and  make  marriages  with   them,  and  go  in  unto 

1 3  them,  and  they  to  you :  know  for  a  certainty  that 
the  Lord  your  God  will  no  more  drive  these  nations 
from  out  of  your  sight ;  but  they  shall  be  a  snare  and 
a  trap  unto  you,  and  a  scourge  in  your  sides,  and  thorns 
in  your  eyes,  until  ye  perish  from  off  this  good  land  which 

14  the  Lord  your  God  hath  given  you.  And,  behold,  this 
day  I  am  going  the  way  of  all  the  earth :  and  ye  know 
in  all  your  hearts  and  in  all  your  souls,  that  not  one 
thing  hath  failed  of  all  the  good  things  which  the  Lord 
your  God  spake  concerning  you  ;  all  are  come  to  pass 

15  unto  you,  not  one  thing  hath  failed  thereof.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  as  all  the  good  things  are  come  upon 
you  of  which  the  Lord  your  God  spake  unto  you,  so 
shall  the  Lord  bring  upon  you  all  the  evil  things,  until 
he  have  destroyed  you  from  off  this  good  land  which  the 

16  Lord  your  God  hath  given  you.  When  ye  transgress 
the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your  God,  which  he  com- 
manded you,  and  go  and  serve  other  gods,  and  bow 
down  yourselves  to  them ;  then  shall  the  anger  of 
the  Lord  be  kindled  against  you,  and  ye  shall  perish 
quickly  from  off  the  good  land  which  he  hath  given 
unto  you. 

24      [Ej  And  Joshua  gathered  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  to 

13.  The  snare  is  that  of  verse  7  ;  the  sconrg-e  and  the  thorns 
(Num.  xxxiii.  55)  are  the  continued  presence  of  an  alien  popula- 
tion in  Israel's  midst. 

14.  tlie  way  of  all  the  earth :  so  David,  speaking  of  his  death 
to  Solomon  (i  Kings  ii.  2). 

16.  transgress  the  covenant :  vii.  11,15:  anger :  cf.  Deut.  xi.  17. 

xxiv.  I  -28.  The  second  farewell  address  of  Joshua  ;  ratification  of 
the  covenant.  Joshua,  addressing  Israel  at  Shechem,  reviews  in 
the  name  of  Yahweh  the  people's  history  (verses  1-13)  ;  the 
points  noticed  being  the  call  of  Abraham  (verse  3)  and  the  fortunes 
of  his  descendants  (verse  4),  the  mission  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 


JOSHUA  24.  3.     E  R°  E  379 

Shechem,  [R^]  and  called  for  the  elders  of  Israel,  and 
for  their  heads,  and  for  their  judges,  and  for  their 
officers ;  [E]  and  they  presented  themselves  before  God. 
And  Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  Your  fathers  dwelt  of  old  time 
beyond  the  River,  even  Terah,  the  father  of  Abraham, 
and  the  father  of  Nahor :  and  they  served  other  gods. 


the  deliverance  from  Egypt  (verses  5-7),  the  victory  over  the 
Amorites  (verse  8),  and  the  deliverance  from  Balak  and  Balaam 
(verses  9,  10),  the  victory  over  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  at  Jericho, 
and  the  acquisition  of  their  territory  (verses  11-13).  ^^  the  basis 
of  this  history  Joshua  appeals  for  loyalty  to  Yahweh ;  his  own 
choice  is  made,  let  Israel  choose  either  the  gods  of  Abraham's 
ancestors  or  those  of  their  present  environment  if  they  will  not 
serve  Yahweh  (verses  14,  15).  The  people  reply,  confessing  the 
truth  of  Joshua's  review,  and  professing  loyalty  to  Yahweh  (verses 
16-18).  Joshua  warns  them  of  His  exclusive  claims  and  the  perils 
of  forsaking  Him  ;  but  the  people  hold  to  their  profession  (verses 
i9-2i),which  Joshua embodiesina  covenant  (verses  22-5),  recorded 
in  writing,  and  marked  by  a  stone  of  witness  (verses  25-7).  He 
then  dismisses  them  (verse  28). 

The  passage,  as  a  whole,  belongs  to  E  (in  illustration  of  the 
evidence  see  on  verses  i,  2,  11,  12,  23,  26)  ;  the  chief  editorial 
additions  of  R'^  are  indicated  in  the  text.  The  review  of  the 
history  is  of  value  for  literary  criticism,  as  showing  what  was 
included  in  the  E  document. 

1.  Shechem  :  xvii.  7,  xx.  7,  xxi.  21  ;  for  its  character  as  a 
sanctuary,  prominent  in  E,  see  Gen.  xxxiii.  20,  xxxv.  4  :  cf. 
Deut.  xxvii.  5  f.  and,  in  this  chapter,  verses  26,  32  :  note  also  '  before 
God,'  at  end  of  this  verse.  It  lies  in  what  G.  A.  Smith  calls  'the 
only  real  pass  across  the  range '  of  central  hills  running  north  and 
south  {H.G.H.L.,  p.  119),  and  to  this  he  traces  its  prominence  in 
the  earlier  history.  It  is  still  the  centre  of  the  government  of  the 
province.  The  editorial  addition  (cf.  xxiii.  2)  characterizes  the 
assembly  as  representative  only. 

2  f.  Joshua  speaks  in  the  name  of  Yahweh  (iii.  9),  and  therefore 
(to  verse  13)  in  the  first  person,  except  for  the  accidental  relapse 
of  the  writer  into  the  third  in  verse  7. 

beyond  the  River:  i.  e.  the  Euphrates  (Gen.  xxxi.  21)  ;  the 
term,  thus  used,  is  a  mark  of  £.  Terah,  Abraham,  ZTahor  :  Gen. 
xi.  26  f. 

other  gods :  cf.  Gen.  xxxv.  4  (£),  and  especially  xxxi.  53 


38o  JOSHUA  24.  3-9.    E  J 

3  And  I  took  your  father  Abraham  from  beyond  the 
River,  and  led  him  throughout  all  the  land  of  Canaan, 

4  and  multiplied  his  seed,  and  gave  him  Isaac.  And  I 
gave  unto  Isaac  Jacob  and  Esau  :  and  I  gave  unto  Esau 
mount  Seir,  to  possess  it;  and  Jacob  and  his  children 

5  went  down  into  Egypt.  And  I  sent  Moses  and  Aaron, 
and  I  plagued  Egypt,  according  to  that  which  I  did  in 
the  midst  thereof:  and  afterward  I  brought  you  out. 

6  And  I  brought  your  fathers  out  of  Egypt :  and  ye  came 
unto  the  sea;  and  the  Egyptians  pursued  after  your 
fathers  with  chariots  and  with  horsemen  unto  the  Red 

7  Sea.  And  when  they  cried  out  unto  the  Lord,  he 
put  darkness  between  you  and  the  Egyptians,  and  brought 
the  sea  upon  them,  and  covered  them;  and  your  eyes 
saw  what  I  did  in  Egypt:    and  ye  dwelt  in  the  wilder- 

8  ness  many  days.  And  I  brought  you  into  the  land 
of  the  Amorites,  which  dwelt  beyond  Jordan ;  and  they 
fought  with  you  :  and  I  gave  them  into  your  hand,  and 
ye  possessed  their  land;   and  I  destroyed   them  from 

9  before  you.  Then  Balak  the  son  of  Zipper,  king  of 
Moab,  arose  and  fought  against  Israel ;  and  he  sent  and 

(E),  where  the  Hebrew  ('judge'  is  in  the  plural)  shows  that 
Nahor's  god  is  distinct  from  Abraham's.  Note  the  importance  of 
this  verse  for  the  O.T.  doctrine  of  revelation.  Yahweh  elects 
Abraham  from  a  heathen  environment. 

3f.  The  following  references  will  enable  the  reader  to  trace 
the  details  of  this  historical  review  :  (verse  3)  Gen.  xii  ;  xvi.  10, 
xxii.  17,  xxvi.  4,  24 ;  xxi.  i  f.  :  (verse  4)  Gen.  xxv.  ai  f.  ;  xxxii.  3  ; 
xlvi  :  (verse  5)  Exod.  iii,  iv.  i6  ;  plajrued,  lit.  '  smote '  (Exod. 
viii.  2),  vii.  14  f.  ;  xii.  29-51,  xiii.  17  f.  ('according  to  that'  yields 
no  adequate  sense ;  read  with  LXX,  A  and  Exod.  iii.  20,  '  with 
wonders'):  (verse  6)  Exod.  xiv.  2  f .  ;  xiv.  6f.  (drawings  and 
descriptionsof  Egyptian  cTiariots  of  this  period  in  S.B.O.T.,  p.  42, 
cf.  Joshua  xi.  6,  xvii.  16,  note)  :  (verse  7)  Exod.  xiv.  10  ;  xiv. 
19  f. ;  xiv.  30,  31  :  (verse  8)  Num.  xxi.  21-5 :  (verse  9)  Num. 
xxii-xxiv  (cf.  Micah  vi.  5\ 

9.  foug-ht  against  Israel:  not  recorded  (contrast  Deut.  ii.  9 ; 


JOSHUA  24.  10-14.     E  R°  E  R°  E  381 

called  Balaam  the   son  of  Beor  to  curse  you :  but  I  10 
would  not  hearken  unto  Balaam ;   therefore  he  blessed 
you  still :   so  I  delivered  you  out  of  his  hand.     And  ye  11 
went  over  Jordan,  and  came  unto  Jericho :  and  the  men 
of  Jericho  fought  against  you,  [R°]  the  Amorite,  and  the 
Perizzite,  and  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Hittite,  and  the 
Girgashite,  the  Hivite,   and   the    Jebusite;    [E]  and  I 
delivered  them  into  your  hand.      And  I  sent  the  hornet  12 
before  you,  which  drave  them  out  from  before  you,  even 
the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites ;  not  with  thy  sword,  nor 
with  thy  bow.      [R°]  And  I  gave  you  a  land  whereon  13 
thou  hadst  not  laboured,  and  cities  which  ye  built  not, 
and  ye  dwell  therein ;  of  vineyards  and  oliveyards  which 
ye  planted  not  do  ye  eat.     [E]  Now  therefore  fear  the  H 
Lord,  and  serve  him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth :  and  put 

Judges  xi.  25),  though  Moab  is  said  to  have  prepared  for  battle 
(Num.  xxii,  6,  11). 

10.  lie  blessed  you  still :  Hebrew  '  he  went  on  blessing  you  • 
(cf.  Davidson's  Hebrew  Syntax,  p.  119) ;  the  repeated  blessings  of 
Balaam  are  here  regarded  as  actually  instrumental  in  the  deliver- 
ance ;  see  on  vi.  26,  xiv.  13. 

11.  Here  we  pass  to  the  period  covered  by  the  Book  of  Joshua 
itself  (iii,  iv,  v.  10). 

the  men  (of  Jericlio) :  lit  *  possessors  of  (Hebrew  ba'aie), 
a  characteristic  idiom  of  E. 

foug-ht  ag-ainst  you  :  not  recorded  (cf.  vi.  20)  in  the  extant 
sources  ;  E  probably  had  a  different  and  more  historical  narrative 
of  the  conquest  of  Canaan. 

The  names  added  by  R''  (cf.  Deut.  vii.  i)  are  intended  to 
include  the  Canaanite  people  as  a  whole  in  this  review  of 
the  conquest. 

12.  hornet :  Exod.  xxiil  28  (E),  Deut.  vii.  20  (note). 

the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites  :  read  (with  LXX)  '  twelve  ' 
for  'two,'  the  corruption  of  the  Hebrew  text  being  due  to  con- 
fusion with  Sihon  and  Og. 

not  with  thy  sword,  nor  with  thy  bow  :  Gen.  xlviii.  22  (E) ; 
the  victory  has  been  won  by  Yahweh.  As  Steuernagel  points 
out,  this  does  not  disprove  the  presence  of  E  in  battle-narratives, 
chaps,  i-xii. 

13.  For  this  editorial  addition,  cf.  Deut.  vi.  10  f. 


382  JOSHUA  24.  15-19.     E 

away  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  beyond  the 

15  River,  and  in  Egypt ;  and  serve  ye  the  Lord.     And  if  it 
seem  evil  unto  you  to  serve  the  Lord,  choose  you  this 
day  whom  ye  will  serve ;    whether  the  gods  which  your  J 
fathers  served  that  were  beyond  the  River,  or  the  gods 
of  the  Amorites,  in  whose  land  ye  dwell :  but  as  for  me 

1 6  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord.  And  the  people 
answered  and  said,  God  forbid  that  we  should  forsake 

17  the  Lord,  to  serve  other  gods ;  for  the  Lord  our  God, 
he  it  is  that  brought  us  and  our  fathers  up  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  *  bondage,  and  that  did 
those  great  signs  in  our  sight,  and  preserved  us  in  all  the 
way  wherein  we  went,  and  among  all  the  peoples  through 

18  the  midst  of  whom  we  passed  :  and  the  Lord  drave  out 
from  before  us  all  the  peoples,  even  the  Amorites  which 
dwelt  in  the  land  :  therefore  we  also  will  serve  the  Lord  ; 

19  for  he  is  our  God.  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people.  Ye 
cannot  serve  the  Lord;  for  he  is  an  holy  God;  he  is  a 

»  Heb.  bondmen. 

14.  gfods :  verse  23  ;  probably  the  teraphim  are  meant,  as  in 
Gen.  XXXV.  4  (E),  according  to  which  they  are  buried  at  Shechem 
by  Jacob. 

15.  choose  you:  the  choice  offered,  first  between  Yahweh 
and  other  gods  (verse  14),  secondly  between  Aramaean  and 
Amorite  gods  (verse  15)  is  severely  practical  ;  which  god  can  help 
his  worshippers  most?  This  thouglit  underlies  the  whole  of  the 
appeal  of  Joshua,  as  well  as  of  Elijah  on  Carmel  (i  Kings  xviii.  21). 

16.  God  forWd:  (xxii.  29)  'far  be  it  for  us.'  The  people 
answer^  '  It  is  Yahweh — our  national  God — who  has  done  all  you 
say ;  we  (as  well  as  you,  emphatic  in  the  Hebrew)  will  worship 
Yahweh '  (verse  18). 

1*1.  the  house  of  boudag-e:  Exod.  xx.  2  (Deut.  v,  6)  ;  Deut. 
vi.  12,  &c.  ;  properly  denoting  a  place  in  which  slaves  are  confined ; 
hence,  figuratively,  of  Egypt.  The  phrase  is  characteristic  of 
Deuteronomy,  and  is  absent  in  LXX. 

19.  Joshua  emphasizes  the  exclusive  and  exacting  claims  of 
Yahweh. 

holy  =  exalted  (not  primarily  in  an  ethical  sense),     Steuer- 


JOSHUA  24.  20-25.     E  383 

jealous  God ;  he  will  not  forgive  your  transgression  nor 
your  sins.     If  ye  forsake  the  Lord,  and  serve  strange  20 
gods,  then  he  will  turn  and  do  you  evil,  and  consume 
you,  after  that  he  hath  done  you  good.     And  the  people  21 
said  unto  Joshua,  Nay ;   but  we  will  serve  the  Lord. 
And  Joshua  said   unto   the   people,   Ye   are   witnesses  22 
against  yourselves  that  ye  have  chosen  you  the  Lord, 
to  serve  him.     And  they  said,  We  are  witnesses.     Now  2;, 
therefore  put  away,  said  he,  the  strange  gods  which  are 
among  you,  and  incline  your  heart  unto  the  Lord,  the 
God  of  Israel.      And  the  people  said  unto  Joshua,  The  2.j 
Lord  our  God  will  we  serve,  and  unto  his  voice  will  we 
hearken.      So  Joshua  made  a  covenant  with  the  people  25 

nagel  well  compares  Isa.  v.   16,  where  Yahweh's  'holiness'  is 
demonstrated  by  His  power  of  judicial  action. 

jealous :  Exod.  xx,  5  ;  Deut.  iv.  24  (note). 

transgrression,  sins :  those,  especially,  of  verse  20,  viz.  of 
disloyalty  to  Himself  (not  here  in  a  general  sense). 

20.  strang-e  (gods)  :  '  foreign  '  (so  verse  23),  Gen.  xxxv.  2  (E) ; 
the  phrase  being  characteristic  of  E. 

22.  witnesses  :  i.  e.  your  present  testimony  will  justify  your 
future  punishment,  should  you  be  disloyal  to  Yahweh. 

And  they  said,  We  are  witnesses  :  these  words  are  best 
omitted,  with  LXX.  The  speech  of  Joshua  should  continue  with- 
out a  break.     As  it  is,  R.  V.  has  to  supply  '  said  he.' 

23.  put  away :  verse  14,  cf.  Gen.  xxxv.  2. 

25.  covenant:  Hebrew  im/^,  whose  Assyrian  cognate  suggests 
the  root-meaning 'bind' or  'fetter':  cf.  Deut.  iv.  13  (note),  xxix.  i  f.; 
here,  as  defined  in  the  second  half  of  the  verse,  an  agreement  made 
between  Joshua  and  Israel  on  the  one  side  and  Yahweh  on  the 
other,  to  keep  His  statute  and  ordinance  (Exod.  xv.  25)  that  He 
alone  is  to  be  served.  Cf.  the  Divine  covenant  with  Jehoiada  and 
Israel  (2  Kings  xi.  17)  that  they  should  be  Yahweh's  people. 
Such  a  covenant  is,  of  course,  much  simpler  than  the  ceremony 
of  Exod.  xxiv.  5  f.  The  interesting  conjecture  is  offered  by 
Meyer  {Die  Israeliten  unci  ihre  Nachbarstdmtne,  1906)  that  'the 
whole  idea  of  a  covenant  with  the  national  god,  of  a  solemn 
obligation,  has  its  roots  in  the  cultus  of  Shechem '  (p.  501).  He 
calls  attention  to  the  original  presence  of  a  covenant-god  (Judges 
ix.  4,  46)  at  the  Canaanite  sanctuary  of  Shechem. 


384  JOSHUA  24.  26-28.     E 

that  day,  and  set  them  a  statute  and  an  ordinance  in 
Shechem. 
25      And  Joshua  wrote  these  words  in  the  book  of  the  law  of 
God;    and  he  took  a  great  stone,  and  set  it  up  there 
under  the  oak  that  was  »  by  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord. 

27  And  Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,  Behold,  this  stone 
shall  be  a  witness  against  us ;  for  it  hath  heard  all  the 
words  of  the  Lord  which  he  spake  unto  us:  it  shall  be 
therefore  a  witness  against  you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God. 

28  So  Joshua  sent  the  people  away,  every  man  unto  his 

inheritance. 

»  Or,  in 

26.  these  words :  the  reference  will  naturally  be  to  the 
particulars  of  the  covenant  or  agreement  just  made  (xxiv.  af.). 
The  precise  meaning  of  the  hook  of  the  law  of  God  will  depend 
on  the  view  taken  of  the  authorship  of  this  verse.  If  the  writer 
were  R°  (so  Dillmann,  following  Noeldeke),  we  should  naturally 
think  of  the  Deuteronomic  Law-book  ;  Kuenen  thinks  we  have 
a  reference  to  some  other  '  book  of  law '  than  the  one  we  know 
(Hex.,  p. 156  ;  Bennett  assigns  the  clause  to  a  late  priestly  redactor, 
and  points  out  that  '  The  Book  of  the  Law  is  regarded  here  as 
capable  of  receiving  additions  from  time  to  time  '  (S.B.O.  T.,  p.  92) ; 
whilst  Holzinger,  Staerk,  and  Steuernagel  would  place  at  this  point 
in  the  original  narrative  (wholly  or  partly)  the  early  Law-book, 
Exod.  xxi.  I — xxiii.  19,  known  as  the  *  Book  of  the  Covenant.'  The 
evidence  does  not  seem  to  yield  more  than  such  individual  con- 
jectures, of  which  the  last-named  is  perhapsbest  worth  consideration. 

a  great  stone :  probably  the  '  pillar '  or  mazzebah  con- 
demned in  Deut.  xvi.  22  is  meant,  though  here  assimilated  by  E  to 
the  worship  of  Yahvveh. 

the  oak  :  the  form  of  the  word  is  peculiar  to  this  passage 
('a//aA),  and  some  would  repunctuate  to  read  'terebinth  '  ;  in  any 
case  a  sacred  tree  is  meant,  possibly  that  called  '  the  terebinth  of 
the  director  '  in  Gen.  xii.  6,  from  the  oracular  responses  given  by 
or  in  connexion  with  it.  This  tree  is  in  (R.  V.  marg.)  the 
sanctuary ;  possibly  the  latter  came  into  being  round  the  tree  as 
centre.  The  same  sacred  place  and  tree  appear  to  be  mentioned 
in  Gen.  xxxiii.  20,  xxxv.  4  ;  Deut.  xi.  30 ;  Judges  ix.  6  (cf.  ix. 
37)  :  cf.  Joshua  viii.  33.     See  on  Deut.  xvi.  21. 

27.  witness:  xxii.  34;  Gen.  xxxi.  48:  an  appeal  to  such 
a  'witness'  is  still  made  in  the  East  ;  It  hath  heard  points  to 
primitive  belief  in  a  spirit  dwelling  within  the  stone  (fetishism). 


JOSHUA  24.  29-33.     E  RD  E  385 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Joshua  the  29 
son  of  Nun,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died,  being  an 
hundred  and  ten  years  old.     And  they  buried  him  in  the  30 
border  of  his  inheritance  in  Timnath-serah,  which  is  in 
the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  on  the  north  of  the  moun- 
tain of  Gaash.     [R°]  And  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  31 
days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  out- 
lived Joshua,  and  had  known  all  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  had  wrought  for  Israel.     [E]  And  the  bones  of  32 
Joseph,  which  the  children  of  Israel  brought  up  out  of 
Egypt,  buried  they  in  Shechem,  in  the  parcel  of  ground 
a  which  Jacob  bought  of  the  sons  of  Hamor  the  father 
of  Shechem  for  an  hundred  pieces  of  money :  and  they 
became  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Joseph.     And  33 
Eleazar  the  son  of  Aaron  died ;  and  they  buried  him  in 
^the  hill  of  Phinehas  his  son,  which  was  given  him  in 
the  hill  country  of  Ephraim. 

*  See  Gen.  xxxiii.  19.  ^  Or,  Gibeah  of  Phinehas 

xxiv.  29-33.  Concluding  Notices,  {a)  The  death  and  burial  of 
Joshua  (verses  29-30^,  ;  (6)  obedience  of  Israel  during  the  life- 
time of  Joshua's  contemporaries  (verse  31)  ;  (c)  burial  of  Joseph's 
bones  (verse  32) ;  {d)  death  and  burial  of  Eleazar  (verse  33). 

Verses  28-31  occur,  in  varied  order,  in  Judges  ii.  6-9  also. 

30.  Timuath-serali :  xix.  50  (LXX  adds  that  the  stone  knives 
with  which  he  circumcised  Israel  at  Gilgal  were  buried  with  him). 

32.  tlie  bones  of  Josepli :  Gen.  1.  25  ;  Exod.  xiii.  19. 

an  hundred  pieces  of  money:  the  exact  meaning  of  the 
term  used  (kesitdh)  is  unknown.  This  piece  of  ground  'had  the 
same  interest  and  significance  for  the  northern  kingdom  which  the 
cave  of  Machpelah  at  Hebron  had  for  the  kingdom  of  Judah ' 
(Driver  on  Gen.  xxxiii.  19). 

they  became,  &c.  :  viz.  Shechem  and  the  piece  of  land ; 
LXX  reads,  ^  and  he  gave  it  to  Joseph  for  an  inheritance,'  which 
is  preferable. 

33.  the  hill  of  Phinehas  :  to  be  taken  as  a  place-name  (with 
R.  V.  marg.);  Gibeath  Phinehas  may  be  Jebia,  three  and  a  half 
miles  east  of  Tibneh.     It  is  not  included  in  xxi,  10-18. 


C  C 


INDEX 


[The  Numerals  refer  to  the  pages ;  more  important  references 
are  denoted  by  an  asterisk.'\ 


Aaron,  105,  106,  232,  380. 
Abbreviations,  53,  54. 
Achan,  +295  f.,  373. 
Ai,  296,  301  f.,  313. 
Altar  (eastern,  370  f. 

—  (Mount  EbaI),i9o,  306. 
Amalek,  184. 

Ammon,  *67,  172. 

Anakim,  62,  326. 

Ark,   106,  107,  215,  ai8,  *279, 

284,  307. 
Asher,  243. 

—  (territory  of),  359. 
Asherim,  9,  37,  95,  115,  *i42. 

Balaam,  172,  ^334,  381. 
Ban,  *I58,  298,  et  passitn. 
Benjamin,  239. 

—  (territory  of),  354  f- 
Bethel,  304,  346,  356. 
Beth-horon,  *3i5,  355,  367. 
Birth,  25. 

Blessings,  *338,  381. 

Blood,  *24,  118,  119,  160,  167, 

278, 
Blood-revenge,  24,  152,  363. 

Caleb,  62,  *337,  *34i  f.,  366. 
Canaan.     See  '  Palestine.' 
Canaanites  (unconquered),  259, 

260.     See  Map. 
Canon,  43. 
Charity,  130,  187. 
Children  (training  of),  29,  &c. 
Chinneroth,  322. 


Chronology,  337  :  cf.  261  f. 
Circumcision,  108,  *286,  287. 
Codes  of  O.  T.  Law,  23,  54. 
Conquest  of  Canaan,  *259-26t, 

312  f.,  321  f. 
Conquest   (list  of  kings),   327, 

328. 
Cosmology,  78,  196,  226. 
Covenant,    *77,    83,    96,     143, 

*383. 
Curse,  192,  *294. 


Dan,  242. 

—  (territory  of),  361. 
Dead  (cuttings  for),  125. 

—  (offerings  to),  188. 
Death,  25. 

Debt  (release  from),  130  f. 
Decalogue,  77,  *84f.,  103,  106. 
Deuteronomy,  Book  of : — 

—  Character,  i  f.,  42. 

—  Commentaries,  &c.,  52,  53. 

—  Contents,  4-8. 

—  Critical  Analysis,  13. 

—  Date,  14  f. 

—  Discovery,  8,  9. 

—  Inspiration,  16,  17. 

—  Legislation,  18-33. 

—  Literary  Influence,  45  f. 

—  Name,  146. 

—  Original  Extent,  12. 

—  Quoted  in  N.  T.,  50-2, 

—  Relation  to  Canon,  43-5. 

—  Religion,  33-43- 

—  Religious  Influence,  49. 


388  DEUTERONOMY   AND   JOSHUA 


Division  of  Land,  329  f. 
Divorce,  176,  177. 

Ebal,  *ri3,  189,  306,  307. 
Edom    (Esau),    *65,    172,    339, 

343,  380. 
Elders,  31  :  cf.  59,  &c. 
Eleazar,  106, 336,  349,  362,  364, 

385. 
Eunuchs,  171. 

Family  Jurisdictionj  164. 
Fetishism,  26,  384. 
First-fruits,  147,  185. 
Firstlings,  135  :  cf.  25. 
Flogging,  i8i. 
Fortresses  (Canaanite),  317. 


Gad,  72,  242,  273,  369. 
—  (territory  of),  334. 
Gerizim,  *U3,  189,  306,  307. 
Gezer,  *3i9,  347,  348,  367. 
Gibeon,  307  f.,  356,  366. 
Gilead,  70,  73,  348,  371  f. 
Gilgal,  *285f,288,  314,  337. 

Hammurabi  (Code  of),  *2of., 
134,  141,  154,  159,  160,  163, 
164,  166,  170,  171,  178,  179, 
180,  183,  190. 

Hanging,  165,  305. 

Hebron,  *3i4,  320,  326,  328, 
338,  341,  345,  363,  366. 

Herem.     See  '  Ban.' 

High  Place,  10,  *ii5. 

Hinnom  (Valley  of),  10,  *340, 
355. 

Horeb,  57,  60,  77,  83,  102,  149, 
205. 

Idolatry,  78,  97,  121,  143,  148, 

192,  207. 
Inheritance,  Law  of,  163. 
Inscription,  The  '  Israel,'  262. 


Issachar,  241. 

—  (territory  of),  358. 

lus  Talionis,  21,  32,  155,  184. 

Jabin,  322. 

Jashar,  Book  of,  316. 

Jeremiah    (relation    to    Deut.), 

45,  46. 
Jericho  (capture),  293  f. 

—  (site),  274. 

Jerusalem,  =^116,  239,  313,  340, 

345,  356. 
Jeshurun,  224,  236,  243. 
Jordan  (passage  of),  281  f. 
Joseph,  239. 

—  (territory  of),  345  f.,  351. 
Joshua,   63,   73,  74,  214,    216, 

217,    231,    246,    *264,    *27i. 
329,  362,  376,  385. 

—  Book  of  : — 
Canonical  Place,  254. 
Commentaries,  &c.,  268. 
Contents,  251-4. 
Critical  Analysis,  255  f. 
Religious  Ideas,  265-7. 
Sources  (J,  E,  K^,  P),  255  f. 

Judah,  236. 

—  (territory  of),  339  f. 
Judges,  31  :  cf.  141. 

Justice  (organization  of),  *3i, 
32,  59>  144- 


Kadesh-barnea,  57,  64,  67,  233, 

321,  337.  339- 
King  (ideal),  145,  146. 
Kings,  Book  of,  47. 
Kiriath-arba  ( =  Hebron,  q.  v.),    i 

*338,  363,  366.  I 

Landmarks,  153. 
Lavir,  Bedouin,  19, 

—  Evolution  of,  18. 

—  O.  T.  Codes  of,  23,  54. 
Law-book  of  Josiah,  *8f.,  11, 

83,  150,  194,  205. 


INDEX 


389 


Lcvites,  II,  107,  117  (&c.),  144, 
*i46-8,  161,  178,  191,  192. 
215,  217,  237,  238,  279,  307. 

333?  335,. 353,  365- 
Levitical  Cities,  364  f. 
Loans,  175,  178,  179. 
Lot,  Sacred,  267,  *298,  353. 

Magic  and  Divination,  10,  *i48, 

266,  304,  318. 
Manasseh,  72,  273,  369. 

—  (territory  of),  335,  348. 
Marriage,  28,   156,    162,   168 f., 

377- 

—  Levi  rate,  182  f. 
Mazzeba/i,  lo,  37,  115,  *i42,384. 
Mezuza,  49,  91. 

Miracle,  122,  316. 

Moab,  34,  *66,  172. 

Monotheism,  Hebrew,  *34  f., 
39,  89. 

Mourning,  162,  296. 

Moses  (alleged  author  of  Deut- 
eronomy), 14. 

—  (law-giver),  18. 

—  (prophet),  149,  247. 

—  '  Blessing,'  of,  233  f. 

—  Death  of,  244  f. 

—  *  Song '  of,  218  f. 


Name  (significance  of),  297. 
Naphtali,  242. 

—  (.territory  of),  360 

Oath,  92,  311. 

Og  (of  Bashan),  57,  &c. 

Palestine,    Land   and   Climate, 
III,  197,  199,  209,  223. 

—  Nations,  94. 

—  Topography,  58,  308. 
Passover,  10,  *i36f.,  288. 
Pentecost,  136  f. 
Philistines,  330. 
Phinehas,  372  f.,  385. 


I    Pisgah,  74,  83,  232,  *245. 
I    Priest.    See  '  Levite.' 
j    Property,  Laws  of,  29  f. 
j    Prophet,    121,    122,    149,    150, 
1        247  :  cf.  15. 
Proselytes,  49,  206. 
Prostitution,  9,  174. 
Psycholog3'',  Primitive,  21,  25, 
61,  69,  77,  118,  133,  134,  162, 
181,  198,  223,  238,  246,  247, 
266,  280,  301,  337. 

Rahab,  275  f. 

Reformation  of  Josiah,  9-1 1. 

Refuge,    Cities   of,    82,    151  f., 

362  f. 
Religion  of  Israel,  14  f..  33!'., 

265  f. 
Rephaim,  66,  &c. 
Responsibility- (corporate ^  300. 

—  (individual),  22,  180. 
Retribution,    Doctrine    of,    40, 

41,  48. 
Reuben,  72,  236,  273,  369. 

—  (territory  of),  333- 
Revelation,  209,  380. 

Sacrifice,  38  n.,   n6-i8,    137, 
138,  142,  147,  190,  306,  374. 

Sanctuary,    Central,   lo,   36  f., 
114  f. 

Seir,     Mount,     57,     &c.     See 
*Edom.' 

Servants  (hired),  179. 

Seven,  291. 
,    Sex,  166,  173:   cf.  'Marriage.' 
j    Shechem,  113,  *i93,  350,  363, 

I        367,  379»  383,  385- 

,    Shekel,  300. 
S/iewa',  15,  35,  50,  *89. 
Shiloh,  *352,  354,  362,  364.  371. 
Sihon,  57,  &c. 
Simeon  (territor3'  of),  356  f 
Sinai,  234.     See  '  Horeb.' 
Slavery,  22,  29,  133  f.,  135,  174, 
178. 


390         DEUTERONOMY   AND   JOSHUA 


Spies  (mission  of),  274. 

Stoning,  123. 

Stranger,  *59,    128,    132, 

200,  206,  307. 
Symbols,  53. 


[80. 


Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  136  f. 
Taboo,    See  *  Ban.' 
Tell-el-Amarna    Tablets,    262, 

263. 
TephiUin,  49,  90. 
Tithes,  129,  187. 
Totemism,  27,  78,  126. 
Tree,   Sacred,    142,  360,  384  : 

of.  159. 
Tribal  Organization,  298. 


Tribes,  Twelve,  191,  233,  236  f., 

*263,  264,  332,  372. 
Twelve,  285. 

Virginity,  168  f. 
Vows,  176. 

Warfare,  Laws  of,  155. 
Weights  and  Measures,  184. 
Witnesses,  Law  of,  154. 

Yahweh  (conception  of),  38  f., 
41,  99,  266. 

Zebulun,  241. 

—  (territory  of),  357  f. 

Zizith,  49,  168. 


OXFORD:    HORACE  HART,   PRINTER   TO  THE  UNIVERSITY 


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